Psalms 132 commentary

David bound himself to find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God's presence. When work is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay, seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His sake, in whom there is a fulness of merit, let us find favour. And every true believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the oil of true grace. The request is, that God would not turn away, but hear and answer their petitions for his Son's sake.

The Lord never turns from us when we plead the covenant with his anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. How vast is the love of God to man, that he should speak thus concerning his church! It is his desire to dwell with us; yet how little do we desire to dwell with him! He abode in Zion till the sins of Israel caused him to give them up to the spoilers. Forsake us not, O God, and deliver us not in like manner, sinful though we are. God's people have a special blessing on common enjoyments, and that blessing puts peculiar sweetness into them. Zion's poor have reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. God will abundantly bless the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. He gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation, he will give abundant joy. God would bring to nothing every design formed to destroy the house of David, until King Messiah should arise out of it, to sit upon the throne of his Father. In him all the promises centre. His enemies, who will not have him to reign over them, shall at the last day be clothed with shame and confusion for ever.

PSALM 132

The writer of this Psalm, whoever he may have been Lightfoot ascribes this Psalm to David, and supposes it to have been composed on the second removal of the Ark from the house of Obededom. (1 Chronicles 15:4, etc.) But the mention of David’s name in the tenth verse in the third person, and the terms there employed, militate against his being the Author. Others ascribe it to Solomon, who, they think, wrote it about the time of the removing of the Ark into the Temple, which he had built for it. (2 Chronicles 5:2, etc.) Others are of opinion, that it was composed by Solomon for the solemn services that were celebrated at the dedication of the Temple. “The whole tenor of this Psalm,” says Jebb, “is an exact epitome of the Dedication Prayer of Solomon. (2 Chronicles 6) The topics are the same ­ the building the house of the Lord ­ the promise to David ­ the inhabitation of the Almighty; ­ and the concluding sentences of the Dedication, are identical with those expressions of the Psalm in verses 8, 9, 10. There can, therefore, be little question that this Psalm was composed by Solomon.” ­ Jebb’s Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms, etc., volume 2. As this forms one of the “Songs of Degrees,” those who conceive that these Psalms were so called beta. use sung by the Jews about the time of their return from Babylon, conclude that Ezra selected this ancient song to be sung at the dedication of the second Temple. here, in the name of all the faithful, puts God in remembrance of his promise, that he would never suffer his house or kingdom to fail, but support and defend both.

A Song of Degrees.

Psalm 132:1-5

1. O Jehovah! Remember David, and all his affliction: 2. Who sware to Jehovah, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob. 3. If; shall enter into the tabernacle of my house, if I shall go up upon the cover of my couch, The expression of going up to one’s bed may be illustrated by what Dr. Shaw says of the Moorish houses in Barbary. Having observed that their chambers are spacious, of the same length with the square court, in the sides of which they are built, he adds, “At one end of each chamber there is a little gallery raised three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to it. Here they place their beds; a situation frequently alluded to in the Holy Scriptures.” The language of the text is no doubt hyperbolical, as Calvin observes, being intended to express David’s great anxiety to have a house built for the worship of God. 4. If I give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, 5. Until I, find a place for Jehovah, habitations משכנות We have here the plural put by enallage for the singular.” ­ Phillips. for the Mighty One of Jacob ­ אביר יעקבabir Yaaicob, the Mighty One of Jacob. By this expression, which occurs both here and in Psalm 132:2, the Psalmist evidently has a reference to the Patriarch’s own words which he employed in his blessing to Joseph, where God is emphatically so designated. (Genesis 49:24.) From this Hebrew name אביר, abir, and כביר, cabir, which is synonymous, probably came the Cabiri, or the great gods of the Grecians, and the Abiry of the Druids. See Thes. Antiq. Roman. tom. 5 page 760; Bryant’s Myth. volume 2: page 473; and Cooke’s Patriarchal and Druidical Religion.

1. O Jehovah! remember David. Interpreters are not agreed respecting the penman of this Psalm, though there is little doubt that it was either David or Solomon. At the solemn dedication of the Temple, when Solomon prayed, several verses are mentioned in the sacred history as having been quoted by him, from which we may infer that the Psalm was sufficiently well known to the people, or that Solomon applied a few words of it for an occasion in reference to which he had written the whole Psalm. The name of David is prominently mentioned, because it was to him that the continuance of the kingdom and Temple was promised, and though dead, this could not affect the truthfulness of God’s word. The Church could very properly pray in the manner which is here done, that God would perform what he had promised to his servant David, not as a private individual, but in favor of all his people. It was therefore a preposterous idea of the Papists to argue from this passage that we may be benefitted by the intercession of the dead. Just as if the faithful were here to be understood as calling up an advocate from the tomb to plead their cause with God, when it is abundantly evident from the context that they look entirely to the covenant which God had made with David, knowing well that though given to one man, it was with the understanding that it should be communicated to all. There is a propriety why mention should be made of his affliction or humiliation. Some render the word meekness, but there is no reason for this whatsoever. In 2 Chronicles 6:42, it is true we read of חסדים; that is, mercies, which I consider to be there understood in the passive sense, as meaning the benefits which had been conferred upon David; but I am clearly of opinion that here the reference is to the anxious cares, the numerous difficulties and struggles which David had to undergo, so long as he was kept by God in suspense. Remember, as if it had been said, the great anxieties, the heavy troubles, which David endured before he came to the kingdom, and how fervently and earnestly he desired to build the Temple, though he was not allowed to do it during his whole life. The dangers, labors, and troubles which he underwent, must clearly have confirmed the faith of God’s people in the truth of the divine oracle, inasmuch as they showed how firmly and certainly he was himself convinced of the truth of what God had spoken. Some insert the copulative reading, remember David and affliction; but of this I do not approve. The particle את eth, rather denotes that special respect in which they would have David remembered, viz., as regarded his afflictions, or that he might come forth before the view of God with his afflictions, and obtain his desire according to them.

PSALM 132

Psa 132:1-18. The writer, perhaps Solomon (compare Psa 132:8, 9), after relating David's pious zeal for God's service, pleads for the fulfilment of the promise (2Sa 7:16), which, providing for a perpetuation of David's kingdom, involved that of God's right worship and the establishment of the greater and spiritual kingdom of David's greater Son. Of Him and His kingdom both the temple and its worship, and the kings and kingdom of Judah, were types. The congruity of such a topic with the tenor of this series of Psalms is obvious.

1-5. This vow is not elsewhere recorded. It expresses, in strong language, David's intense desire to see the establishment of God's worship as well as of His kingdom.

remember David--literally, "remember for David," that is, all his troubles and anxieties on the matter.

6. These may be the "words of David" and his pious friends, who,

at Ephratah--or Beth-lehem (Ge 48:7), where he once lived, may have heard of the ark, which he found for the first time

in the fields of the wood--or, Jair, or Kirjath-jearim ("City of woods") (1Sa 7:1; 2Sa 6:3, 4), whence it was brought to Zion.

7. The purpose of engaging in God's worship is avowed.

8-9. The solemn entry of the ark, symbolical of God's presence and power, with the attending priests, into the sanctuary, is proclaimed in the words used by Solomon (2Ch 6:41).

10-12. For thy servant David's sake--that is, On account of the promise made to him.

turn ... anointed--Repulse not him who, as David's descendant, pleads the promise to perpetuate his royal line. After reciting the promise, substantially from 2Sa 7:12-16 (compare Ac 2:30, &c.), an additional plea,

13. is made on the ground of God's choice of Zion (here used for Jerusalem) as His dwelling, inasmuch as the prosperity of the kingdom was connected with that of the Church (Psa 122:8, 9).

14-18. That choice is expressed in God's words, "I will sit" or "dwell," or sit enthroned. The joy of the people springs from the blessings of His grace, conferred through the medium of the priesthood.

Lord, remember David - Consider the promises thou hast made to this thy eminent servant, that had respect, not only to him and to his family, but to all the Israelitish people.

How he sware unto the Lord - It is only in this place that we are informed of David's vow to the Lord, relative to the building of the temple; but we find he had fully purposed the thing.

Surely I will not come - This must refer to the situation of the temple; or, as we would express it, he would not pass another day till he had found out the ground on which to build the temple, and projected the plan, and devised ways and means to execute it. And we find that he would have acted in all things according to his oath and vow, had God permitted him. But even after the Lord told him that Solomon, not he, should build the house he still continued to show his good will by collecting treasure and materials for the building, all the rest of his life.

The mighty God of Jacob - עביר יעקב abir yaacob, the Mighty One of Jacob. We have this epithet of God for the first time, Gen 49:24. Hence, perhaps, the abirim of the heathen, the stout ones, the strong beings.

Lo, we have heard of it at Ephratah - This may be considered as a continuation of David's vow, as if he had said: As I had determined to build a temple for the ark, and heard that it was at Ephratah, I went and found it in the fields of Jaar, יער; - not the wood, but Kirjath Jaar or Jearim, where the ark was then lodged; - and having found it, he entered the tabernacle, Psa 132:7; and then, adoring that God whose presence was in it, he invited him to arise and come to the place which he had prepared for him.

Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou and the ark of thy strength - Using the same expressions which Solomon used when he dedicated the temple, 2Chr 6:41, 2Chr 6:42. There are several difficulties in these passages. Ephratah may mean the tribe of Ephraim; and then we may understand the place thus: "I have learned that the ark had been in the tribe of Ephraim, and I have seen it at Kirjath-jearim, or Field of the woods, but this is not a proper place for it, for the Lord hath chosen Jerusalem." It is true that the ark did remain in that tribe from the days of Joshua to Samuel, during three hundred and twenty-eight years; and thence it was brought to Kirjath-jearim, where it continued seventy years, till the commencement of the reign of David over all Israel.

But if we take Psa 132:6-8, not as the continuation of David's vow, but as the words of the captives in Babylon, the explanation will be more plain and easy: "We have heard, O Lord, from our fathers, that thy tabernacle was formerly a long time at Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim. And our history informs us that it has been also at Kirjath-jearim, the fields of the wood; and afterwards it was brought to Jerusalem, and there established: but Jerusalem is now ruined, the temple destroyed, and thy people in captivity. Arise, O Lord, and reestablish thy dwelling-place in thy holy city!" See Calmet and others on this place.

Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness - Let them be as remarkable for inward holiness as they are for the splendor of their holy vestments.

The face of thine anointed - David. Remember thy promises to him, that he may be restored to thee and to thy worship.

The Lord hath sworn - As David sware to the Lord, so the Lord swears to David that he will establish his throne, and place his posterity on it: and that he had respect to David's Antitype, we learn from St. Peter, Act 2:30 (note), where see the note. This verse with the following refers to the spiritual David, and the Christian Church.

If thy children will keep my covenant - This was conditional with respect to the posterity of David. They have been driven from the throne, because they did not keep the Lord's covenant, but the true David is on the throne, and his posterity forms the genuine Israelites.

The Lord hath chosen Zion - Therefore neither Shiloh nor Kirjath-jearim is the place of his rest.

This is my rest for ever - Here the Christian Church is most indubitably meant. This is God's place for ever. After this there never will be another dispensation; Christianity closes and completes all communications from heaven to earth. God has nothing greater to give to mankind on this side heaven; nor does man need any thing better; nor is his nature capable of any thing more excellent.

I will abundantly bless her provision - There shall be an abundant provision of salvation made for mankind in the Christian Church. Our Lord's multiplication of the loaves was a type and proof of it.

I will also clothe her priests - All Christian ministers, with salvation; this shall appear in all their conduct. Salvation - redemption from all sin through the blood of the Lamb shall be their great and universal message.

There will I make the horn of David to bud - There, in the Christian Church, the power and authority of the spiritual David shall appear.

I have ordained a lamp - I have taken care to secure a posterity, to which the promises shall be expressly fulfilled.

His enemies will I clothe with shame - Every opponent of the Christian cause shall be confounded.

But upon himself shall his crown flourish - There shall be no end of the government of Christ's kingdom. From Psa 132:11-18, the spiritual David and his posterity are the subjects of which the Psalm treats.

Afflictions - All his sufferings for thy sake.

Until - Until I have raised an house in which the ark may be put.

It - Of the ark. Ephratah - In the tribe of Ephraim, which was called also Ephratah. Found it - Afterwards we found it in Kirjath - jearim, which signifies a city of woods, in the territory whereof the ark was seated for twenty years.

Tabernacles - Into his temple. Footstool - The ark, is often said to sit between the cherubim, which were above the ark.

Rest - Into thy resting place, the temple so called, Isa 66:1, where thou hast now a fixed habitation. The ark - The seat of thy powerful and glorious presence.

David's sake - In regard of thy promises vouchsafed to David. Turn not - Cast me not out of thy presence. Of - Of me whom thou hast anointed to be king over thy people.

Salvation - With thy saving graces and blessings.

There - In Jerusalem. To bud - His power and glory to flourish. A lamp - A successor to continue for ever in his family, as this phrase is expounded 1Kings 11:36 15:4, and particularly one eminent and glorious light, namely, the Messiah.

1 LORD, remember David , and all his afflictions .

Either, 1. thy Covenant made with David: or rather, 2. Davids eminent piety and zeal for thy service, amplified by the following clause.

All his sufferings for thy sake, all the solicitude of his mind, all his hard and wearisom labours for thy service and glory, and for provisions towards the building of thy Temple, and for the establishment of thy people in peace and tranquillity, that so way might be made for that great work.

2 How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob .

He made a solemn vow, and confirmed it with an oath. Which he undoubtedly did, although no mention be made of it 2 Sam. 7. Thus many historical passages which were omitted in their proper places, are afterwards recorded upon other occasions; of which examples have been formerly noted.

Of Israel, Iacob and Israel are frequently put for their posterity, as hath been frequently observed.

3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up to my bed .

This and the following clauses are not to be understood strictly and properly, as if he would never come into his house or bed till this was done, which is confuted by the history, 2 Sam. 11. 2. but figuratively, as an hyperbolical expression, such as are usual both in Scripture and in all other Authors, to signifie his passionate desire of doing this work, which was so earnest, that neither his house nor bed nor sleep could give him any content till this work was done or in some forwardness.

5 Until I find out a place for the LORD , an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

Either, 1. until I can understand from God what place he hath chosen for his house to be built in. Or rather, 2. until I have fitted or raised an house in which the Ark may be put, an habitation, as this is explained both in the next clause, and in v. 7. and Act. 7. 46. For this and not the former was the matter both of Davids desire, and of Gods answer delivered by Nathan, 2 Sam. 7.

Marginal references: Heb. habitations.

6 Loe, we have heard of it at Ephratah : we found it in the fields of the wood .

Of the place or habitation for the Lord last mentioned.

Either, 1. in Bethlehem, which is called Ephratah, Gen. 35. 19. & 48. 7. Mich. 5. 2. So the sence is either this, We heard a rumour at Bethlehem among Davids relations, that the Ark should be removed to a new place, and that David had pitched upon it; or this, We heard that Bethlehem would be the place for it, because it was the City of David. Or rather, 2. in the Tribe of Ephraim, which was called also Ephratah or Ephrathah, as is manifest, because the men of Ephraim were called Ephrathites, as Iudg. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 5. in the Hebrew Text, though in the English it be Ephraimite. So Ieroboam is called an Ephrathite, 1 Kings 11. 26. So the sence is, We heard it from our fathers, that the ancient place of it was Shiloh, which was in the land of Ephraim. Whereby he covertly intimates that God rejected and forsook that place, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, as it is said Psal. 78. 67. that so he might make way for Zion, which was the place chosen by God for it, as it follows here v. 13.

Afterwards we found it elsewhere.

i. e. In a field or in one of the fields of the wood, for that little spot of ground in which the Tabernacle or Temple was built, was not likely to be in several fields. Thus Iepthah was buried in the cities of Gilead, Iudg. 12. 7. i. e. in one of them. This is meant either, 1. of the Mount Moriah, which might possibly be called the field of the wood, as being anciently a place full of wood, Gen. 22. 13. or of the threshing-floor of Araunah, of which see 2 Sam. 24. 28. which before the building of the Temple is said to have been a woody place. Or rather, 2. of Kiriath-jearim, which signifies a city of woods, in the field or territory whereof the Ark was seated for twenty years, as we read 1 Sam. 7. 1, 2. And from this place it was removed to Zion, 2 Sam. 6. 1, &c.

7 We will go into his tabernacles : we will worship at his footstool .

Seeing the Ark is now fixed in a certain place, we will go to it more generally and constantly than formerly we did.

Into his Tabernacle or Temple, the Plural number put for the Singular, as Psal. 43. 3. & 46. 4, &c.

Either the Temple: or rather the Ark, so called 1 Chron. 28. 2. Lament. 2. 1. because God is oft said to sit between the Cherubims, which were above the Ark.

Marginal references: Psal. 99. 5.

8 Arise , O LORD, into thy rest : thou, and the ark of thy strength .

i. e. Arise and come. One word put for two, as Gen. 43. 33. marvelled (i. e. marvelled looking) one at another; and v. 34. he took messes, i. e. he took and sent messes, as our Translation renders it. And this word is very proper in this place, because it was to be used by Gods appointment when the Ark was to be removed from one place to another, Numb. 10. 35. as now it was from the Tabernacle in Zion to the Temple in Moriah, upon which occasion this and the two following verses were used by Solomon, 2 Chron. 6. 41, 42.

Into thy resting place, the Temple so called Isa. 66. 1. where thou hast now a fixed habitation.

The seat of thy powerful and glorious presence, from whence thou dost put [illegible: 1+ letters]orth and manifest thy strength on the behalf of thy people when they desire and need it.

Marginal references: Num. 10. 35. 2 Chr. 6. 41, 42.

9 Let thy priests be cloathed with righteousness ▪ and let thy saints shout for joy .

Not onely with those outward Sacerdotal garments of glory and beauty which thou hast appointed for them, but especially with those inward ornaments of righteousness and true holiness, that so their persons and services may be accepted by thee both for themselves and for all thy people, and they may be cloathed with salvation, as it is expressed here below v. 16. and 2 Chron. 6. 41. which is the effect or consequent of the former clothing.

Let all thy people have cause of rejoycing in the tokens of thy goodness▪ which they eminently had at the dedication of the Temple, as is noted 1 Kings 8. 66.

Marginal references: Ver. 16.

10 For thy servant Davids sake , turn not away the face of thine anointed .

In regard of thy singular kindness and promises vouchsafed to David, as this is explained in the following verses. And this verse makes it more than probable, that David was not the Penman of this Pslam, who never used to beg mercies from God for his own sake, but constantly for his names sake, and for the sake of his truth, mercy, goodness or righteousness, as will be evident to any one that reads this Book.

Cast me not out of thy presence, do not reject or deny my request, as this phrase is expounded, 1 Kings 2. 16.

Of me whom thou hast anointed to be King over thy people. He speaks of himself in the third person, as is usual.

11 The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

Not falsly or deceitfully, as men sometimes do, but sincerely and faithfully, what he will inviolably observe and fulfil, as the next clause expounds this.

Some of thy posterity.

Marginal references: Psal. 89. 3, 4. [illegible: 1+ letters]3. &c.; 2 Sam. 7. 12. 1 Kings 8. 25. 2 Chr. 6. 16. Luke 1. 69. Acts 2. 30.; Heb. thy belly.

13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion : he hath desired it for his habitation.

Not strictly, but largely taken either for the whole mountain, whereof Zion and Moriah were two parts or tops, or for Ierusalem, which was in a great part built upon Mount Zion, whence it is oft called Zion, as hath been noted again and again. For he speaks here of that place which he chose to be his rest for ever, as it follows v. 14. which unequestionably was the Temple: whence also it appears that this Psalm was not written by David, nor before the building of the Temple.

14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell , for I have desired it.

I will no more wander to several places as I have done, but here I have fixed my abode.

Marginal references: Psal. 68. 16.

15 I will abundantly bless her provision : I will satisfie her poor with bread.

I will plentifully provide for Ierusalem and all that live in her or resort to her for Worship: nor shall they seek my face in vain.

Marginal references: Psal. 147. 14.; Or, surely.

16 I will also cloath her priests with salvation : and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

With my saving graces and blessings, with righteousness, as thou didst desire v. 9. and moreover with that protection and benediction which by my promise belongs to righteous persons.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 6. 41.

17 There will I make the horn of David to bud : I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.

In Ierusalem, the seat of the Kingdom, and, which is no small advantage to that family, the onely place of my presence and worship in the world.

His power and glory to flourish and increase and to be propagated to his posterity.

A successor or succession to continue for ever in his family, as this phrase is expounded 1 Kings 11. 36. & 15. 4. and particularly one eminent and glorious light, to wit, the Messias, who shall come out of his loyns, and revive and vastly enlarge his Kingdom.

Marginal references: Ezek. 29. 21. Luke 1. 69.; Or, candle. See 1 Kings 11. 36.

18 His enemies will I cloath with shame : but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

For the shameful and unexpected disappointment of all their vain hopes and wicked designs.

Upon him and his posterity, which are nothing else but a mans self multiplied.

Prayer for the House of God and the House of David

Psa 131:1-3 designedly precedes Psalms 132. The former has grown out of the memory of an utterance of David when he brought home the Ark, and the latter begins with the remembrance of David’s humbly zealous endeavour to obtain a settled and worthy abode for the God who sits enthroned above the Ark among His people. It is the only Psalm in which the sacred Ark is mentioned. The chronicler put Psa 132:8-10 into the mouth of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (2Ch 6:41.). After a passage borrowed from Psa 130:2 which is attached by עתּה to Solomon’s Temple-dedication prayer, he appends further borrowed passages out of Psalms 132 with ועתּה. The variations in these verses of the Psalms, which are annexed by him with a free hand and from memory (Jahve Elohim for Jahve, לנוּחך for למנוּחתך, תּשׁוּעה for צדק, בּטּוב ישׂמחוּ for ירנּנוּ), just as much prove that he has altered the Psalm, and not reversely (as Hitzig persistently maintains), that the psalmist has borrowed from the Chronicles. It is even still distinctly to be seen how the memory of Isa 55:3 has influenced the close of 2Ch 6:42 in the chronicler, just as the memory of Isa 55:2 has perhaps also influenced the close of 2Ch 6:41.

The psalmist supplicates the divine favour for the anointed of Jahve for David’s sake. In this connection this anointed one is neither the high priest, nor Israel, which is never so named (vid., Hab 3:13), nor David himself, who “in all the necessities of his race and people stands before God,” as Hengstenberg asserts, in order to be able to assign this Son of degrees, as others, likewise to the post-exilic time of the new colony. Zerubbabel might more readily be understood (Baur), with whom, according to the closing prophecy of the Book of Haggai, a new period of the Davidic dominion is said to begin. But even Zerubbabel, the פּחת יהוּדה, could not be called משׁיח, for this he was not. The chronicler applies the Psalm in accordance with its contents. It is suited to the mouth of Solomon. The view that it was composed by Solomon himself when the Ark of the covenant was removed out of the tent-temple on Zion into the Temple-building (Amyraldus, De Wette, Tholuck, and others), is favoured by the relation of the circumstances, as they are narrated in 2Ch 5:5., to the desires of the Psalm, and a close kinship of the Psalm with Ps 72 in breadth, repetitions of words, and a laboured forward movement which is here and there a somewhat uncertain advance. At all events it belongs to a time in which the Davidic throne was still standing and the sacred Ark was not as yet irrecoverably lost. That which, according to 2 Sam. 6, 2Sa 7:1, David did for the glory of Jahve, and on the other hand is promised to him by Jahve, is here made by a post-Davidic poet into the foundation of a hopeful intercessory prayer for the kingship and priesthood of Zion and the church presided over by both.

The Psalm consists of four ten-line strophes. Only in connection with the first could any objection be raised, and the strophe be looked upon as only consisting of nine lines. But the other strophes decide the question of its measure; and the breaking up of the weighty Psa 132:1 into two lines follows the accentuation, which divides it into two parts and places את by itself as being את (according to Accentssystem, xviii. 2, with Mugrash). Each strophe is adorned once with the name of David; and moreover the step-like progress which comes back to what has been said, and takes up the thread and carries it forward, cannot fail to be recognised.

Psa 132:1-5

One is said to remember anything to another when he requites him something that he has done for him, or when he does for him what he has promised him. It is the post-Davidic church which here reminds Jahve of the hereinafter mentioned promises (of the “mercies of David,” 2Ch 6:42, cf. Isa 55:3) with which He has responded to David’s ענות. By this verbal substantive of the Pual is meant all the care and trouble which David had in order to procure a worthy abode for the sanctuary of Jahve. ענה ב signifies to trouble or harass one’s self about anything, afflictari (as frequently in the Book of Ecclesiastes); the Pual here denotes the self-imposed trouble, or even that imposed by outward circumsntaces, such as the tedious wars, of long, unsuccessful, and yet never relaxed endeavours (1Ki 5:17). For he had vowed unto God that he would give himself absolutely no rest until he had obtained a fixed abode for Jahve. What he said to Nathan (2Sa 7:2) is an indication of this vowed resolve, which was now in a time of triumphant peace, as it seemed, ready for being carried out, after the first step towards it had already been taken in the removal of the Ark of the covenant to Zion (2 Sam. 6); ); for 2 Sam 7 is appended to 2 Sam. 6 out of its chronological order and only on account of the internal connection. After the bringing home of the Ark, which had been long yearned for (Psa 101:2), and did not take place without difficulties and terrors, was accomplished, a series of years again passed over, during which David always carried about with him the thought of erecting God a Temple-building. And when he had received the tidings through Nathan that he should not build God a house, but that it should be done by his son and successor, he nevertheless did as much towards the carrying out of the desire of his heart as was possible in connection with this declaration of the will of Jahve. He consecrated the site of the future Temple, he procured the necessary means and materials for the building of it, he made all the necessary arrangements for the future Temple-service, he inspirited the people for the gigantic work of building that was before them, and handed over to his son the model for it, as it is all related to us in detail by the chronicler. The divine name “the mighty One of Jacob” is taken from Gen 49:24, as in Isa 1:24; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16. The Philistines with their Dagon had been made to feel this mighty Rock of Jacob when they took the sacred Ark along with them (1Sa 5:1-12). With אם David solemnly declares what he is resolved not to do. The meaning of the hyperbolically expressed vow in the form of an oath is that for so long he will not rejoice at his own dwelling-house, nor give himself up to sleep that is free from anxiety; in fine, for so long he will not rest. The genitives after אהל and ערשׂ are appositional genitives; Ps 44 delights in similar combinations of synonyms. יצוּעי (Latin strata mea) is a poetical plural, as also is משׁכּנות. With תּנוּמה (which is always said of the eyelids, Gen 31:40; Pro 6:4; Ecc 8:16, not of the eyes) alternates שׁנת (according to another reading שׁנת) for שׁנה. The āth is the same as in נחלת in Psa 16:6, cf. 60:13, Exo 15:2, and frequently. This Aramaizing rejection of the syllable before the tone is, however, without example elsewhere. The lxx adds to Psa 132:4, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου (וּמנוּחה לרקּותי), but this is a disagreeable overloading of the verse.

Psa 132:6-10

In Psa 132:6 begins the language of the church, which in this Psalm reminds Jahve of His promises and comforts itself with them. Olshausen regards this Psa 132:6 as altogether inexplicable. The interpretation nevertheless has some safe starting-points. (1) Since the subject spoken of is the founding of a fixed sanctuary, and one worthy of Jahve, the suffix of שׁמענוּה (with Chateph as in Hos 8:2, Ew. §60, a) and מצאנוּה refers to the Ark of the covenant, which is fem. also in other instances (1Sa 4:17; 2Ch 8:11). (2) The Ark of the covenant, fetched up out of Shiloh by the Israelites to the battle at Ebenezer, fell into the hands of the victors, and remained, having been again given up by them, for twenty years in Kirjath-Jearim (1Sa 7:1.), until David removed it out of this Judaean district to Zion (2Sa 6:2-4; cf. 2Ch 1:4). What is then more natural than that שׂדי־יער is a poetical appellation of Kirjath-Jearim (cf. “the field of Zoan” in Psa 78:12)? Kirjath-Jearim has, as a general thing, very varying names. It is also called Kirjath-ha-jearim in Jer 26:20 (Kirjath-'arim in Ezr 2:25, cf. Jos 18:28), Kirjath-ba'al in Jos 16:1-10 :50, Ba'alah in Jos 15:9; 1Ch 13:6 (cf. Har-ha-ba'alah, Jos 15:11, with Har-Jearim in Jos 15:10), and, as it seems, even Ba'alê Jehudah in 2Sa 6:2. Why should it not also have been called Ja'ar side by side with Kirjath-Jearim, and more especially if the mountainous district, to which the mention of a hill and mountain of Jearim points, was, as the name “city of the wood” implies, at the same time a wooded district? We therefore fall in with Kühnöl’s (1799) rendering: we found it in the meadows of Jaar, and with his remark: “Jaar is a shortened name of the city of Kirjath-Jearim.”

The question now further arises as to what Ephrathah is intended to mean. This is an ancient name of Bethlehem; but the Ark of the covenant never was in Bethlehem. Accordingly Hengstenberg interprets, “We knew of it in Bethlehem (where David had spent his youth) only by hearsay, no one had seen it; we found it in Kirjath-Jearim, yonder in the wooded environs of the city, where it was as it were buried in darkness and solitude.” So even Anton Hulsius (1650): Ipse David loquitur, qui dicit illam ipsam arcam, de qua quum adhuc Bethlehemi versaretur inaudivisset, postea a se (vel majroibus suis ipso adhuc minorenni) inventam fuisse in campis Jaar. But (1) the supposition that David’s words are continued here does not harmonize with the way in which they are introduced in Psa 132:2, according to which they cannot possibly extend beyond the vow that follows. (2) If the church is speaking, one does not see why Bethlehem is mentioned in particular as the place of the hearsay. (3) We heard it in Ephrathah cannot well mean anything else than, per antiptosin (as in Gen 1:4, but without כּי), we heard that it was in Ephrathah. But the Ark was before Kirjath-Jearim in Shiloh. The former lay in the tribe of Judah close to the western borders of Benjamin, the latter in the midst of the tribe of Ephraim. Now since אפרתי quite as often means an Ephraimite as it does a Bethlehemite, it may be asked whether Ephrathah is not intended of the Ephraimitish territory (Kühnöl, Gesenius, Maurer, Tholuck, and others). The meaning would then be: we had heard that the sacred Ark was in Shiloh, but we found it not there, but in Kirjath-Jearim. And we can easily understand why the poet has mentioned the two places just in this way. Ephrāth, according to its etymon, is fruitful fields, with which are contrasted the fields of the wood - the sacred Ark had fallen from its original, more worthy abode, as it were, into the wilderness. But is it probable, more especially in view of Mic 5:1, that in a connection in which the memory of David is the ruling idea, Ephrathah signifies the land of Ephraim? No, Ephrathah is the name of the district in which Kirjath-Jearim lay. Caleb had, for instance, by Ephrath, his third wife, a son named Hûr (Chûr), 1Ch 2:19, This Hûr, the first-born of Ephrathah, is the father of the population of Bethlehem (1Ch 4:4), and Shobal, a son of this Hûr, is father of the population of Kirjath-Jearim (1Ch 2:50). Kirjath-Jearim is therefore, so to speak, the daughter of Bethlehem. This was called Ephrathah in ancient times, and this name of Bethlehem became the name of its district (Mic 5:1). Kirjath-Jearim belonged to Caleb-Ephrathah (1Ch 2:24), as the northern part of this district seems to have been called in distinction from Negeb-Caleb (1Sa 30:14).

But משׁכּנותיו in Psa 132:7 is now neither a designation of the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim, for the expression would be too grand, and in relation to Psa 132:5 even confusing, nor a designation of the Salomonic Temple-building, for the expression standing thus by itself is not enough alone to designate it. What is meant will therefore be the tent-temple erected by David for the Ark when removed to Zion (2Sa 7:2, יריעה). The church arouses itself to enter this, and to prostrate itself in adoration towards (vid., Psa 99:5) the footstool of Jahve, i.e., the Ark; and to what purpose? The ark of the covenant is now to have a place more worthy of it; the מנוּחה, i.e., the בּית מנוּחה,    1Ch 28:2, in which David’s endeavours have through Solomon reached their goal, is erected: let Jahve and the Ark of His sovereign power, that may not be touched (see the examples of its inviolable character in 1Sa 5:1-12, 1 Sam 6, 2Sa 6:6.), now enter this fixed abode! Let His priests who are to serve Him there clothe themselves in “righteousness,” i.e., in conduct that is according to His will and pleasure; let His saints, who shall there seek and find mercy, shout for joy! More especially, however, let Jahve for David’s sake, His servant, to whose restless longing this place of rest owes its origin, not turn back the face of His anointed one, i.e., not reject his face which there turns towards Him in the attitude of prayer (cf. Psa 84:10). The chronicler has understood Psa 132:10 as an intercession on behalf of Solomon, and the situation into which we are introduced by Psa 132:6-8 seems to require this. It is, however, possible that a more recent poet here, in Psa 132:7-8, reproduces words taken from the heart of the church in Solomon’s time, and blends petitions of the church of the present with them. The subject all through is the church, which is ever identical although changing in the persons of its members. The Israel that brought the sacred Ark out of Kirjath-Jearim to Zion and accompanied it thence to the Temple-hill, and now worships in the sanctuary raised by David’s zeal for the glory of Jahve, is one and the same. The prayer for the priests, for all the saints, and more especially for the reigning king, that then resounded at the dedication of the Temple, is continued so long as the history of Israel lasts, even in a time when Israel has no king, but has all the stronger longing for the fulfilment of the Messianic promise.

Psa 132:11-13

The “for the sake of David” is here set forth in detail. אמת in Psa 132:11 is not the accusative of the object, but an adverbial accusative. The first member of the verse closes with לדוד, which has the distinctive Pazer, which is preceded by Legarmeh as a sub-distinctive; then follows at the head of the second member אמת with Zinnor, then לא־ישׁוּב ממּנּה with Olewejored and its conjunctive Galgal, which regularly precedes after the sub-distinctive Zinnor. The suffix of ממּנּה refers to that which was affirmed by oath, as in Jer 4:28. Lineal descendants of David will Jahve place on the throne (לכסּא like לראשׁי in Psa 21:4) to him, i.e., so that they shall follow his as possessors of the throne. David’s children shall for ever (which has been finally fulfilled in Christ) sit לכסּא to him (cf. Jer 9:5; Jer 36:7). Thus has Jahve promised, and expects in return from the sons of David the observance of His Law. Instead of עדתי זוּ it is pointed עדתי זו. In Hahn’s edition עדתי has Mercha in the penult. (cf. the retreat of the tone in זה אדני, Dan 10:17), and in Baer’s edition the still better attested reading Mahpach instead of the counter-tone Metheg, and Mercha on the ultima. It is not plural with a singular suffix (cf. Deu 28:59, Ges. §91, 3), but, as זו = זאת indicates, the singular for עדוּתי, like תּחנתי for תּחנוּתי in 2Ki 6:8; and signifies the revelation of God as an attestation of His will. אלמּדם has Mercha mahpach., זו Rebia parvum, and עדתי Mercha; and according to the interpunction it would have to be rendered: “and My self-attestation there” (vid., on Psa 9:16), but zow is relative: My self-attestation (revelation), which I teach them. The divine words extend to the end of Psa 132:12. The hypotheses with אם, as the fulfilment in history shows, were conditions of the continuity of the Davidic succession; not, however - because human unfaithfulness does not annul the faithfulness of God - of the endlessness of the Davidic throne. In Psa 132:13 the poet states the ground of such promissory mercy. It is based on the universal mercy of the election of Jerusalem. אוּהּ has He mappic. like ענּה in Deu 22:29, or the stroke of Raphe (Ew. §247, d), although the suffix is not absolutely necessary. In the following strophe the purport of the election of Jerusalem is also unfolded in Jahve’s own words.

Psa 132:14-18

Shiloh has been rejected (Psa 78:60), for a time only was the sacred Ark in Bethel (Jdg 20:27) and Mizpah (Jdg 21:5), only somewhat over twenty years was it sheltered by the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim (1Sa 7:2), only three months by the house of Obed-Edom in Perez-uzzah (2Sa 6:11) - but Zion is Jahve’s abiding dwelling-place, His own proper settlement, מנוּחה (as in Isa 11:10; Isa 66:1, and besides 1Ch 28:2). In Zion, His chosen and beloved dwelling-place, Jahve blesses everything that belongs to her temporal need (צידהּ for זידתהּ, vid., on Psa 27:5, note); so that her poor do not suffer want, for divine love loves the poor most especially. His second blessing refers to the priests, for by means of these He will keep up His intercourse with His people. He makes the priesthood of Zion a real institution of salvation: He clothes her priests with salvation, so that they do not merely bring it about instrumentally, but personally possess it, and their whole outward appearance is one which proclaims salvation. And to all her saints He gives cause and matter for high and lasting joy, by making Himself known also to the church, in which He has taken up His abode, in deeds of mercy (loving-kindness or grace). There (שׁם, Psa 133:3) in Zion is indeed the kingship of promise, which cannot fail of fulfilment. He will cause a horn to shoot forth, He will prepare a lamp, for the house of David, which David here represents as being its ancestor and the anointed one of God reigning at that time; and all who hostilely rise up against David in his seed, He will cover with shame as with a garment (Job 8:22), and the crown consecrated by promise, which the seed of David wears, shall blossom like an unfading wreath. The horn is an emblem of defensive might and victorious dominion, and the lamp (נר,    2Sa 21:17, cf. ניר, 2Ch 21:7, lxx λύχνον) an emblem of brilliant dignity and joyfulness. In view of Eze 29:21, of the predictions concerning the Branch (zemach) in Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15; Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12 (cf. Heb 7:14), and of the fifteenth Beracha of the Shemone - Esre (the daily Jewish prayer consisting of eighteen benedictions): “make the branch (zemach) of David Thy servant to shoot forth speedily, and let his horn rise high by virtue of Thy salvation,” - it is hardly to be doubted that the poet attached a Messianic meaning to this promise. With reference to our Psalm, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, changes that supplicatory beracha of his nation (Luk 1:68-70) into a praiseful one, joyfully anticipating the fulfilment that is at hand in Jesus.

Solomon's Prayer for Divine Favour.

1 Lord , remember David, and all his afflictions: 2 How he sware unto the Lord , and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; 3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, 5 Until I find out a place for the Lord , a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. 7 We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. 8 Arise, O Lord , into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. 9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. 10 For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.

In these verses we have Solomon's address to God for his favour to him and to his government, and his acceptance of his building a house to God's name. Observe,

I. What he pleads—two things:—

1. That what he had done was in pursuance of the pious vow which his father David had made to build a house for God. Solomon was a wise man, yet pleads not any merit of his own: "I am not worthy, for whom thou shouldst do this; but, Lord, remember David, with whom thou madest the covenant" (as Moses prayed, Exod. xxxii. 13, Remember Abraham, the first trustee of the covenant); "remember all his afflictions, all the troubles of his life, which his being anointed was the occasion of," or his care and concern about the ark, and what an uneasiness it was to him that the ark was in curtains, 2 Sam. vii. 2. Remember all his humility and meekness (so some read it), all that pious and devout affection with which he had made the following vow. Note, It is not amiss for us to put God in mind of our predecessors in profession, of their afflictions, their services, and their sufferings, of God's covenant with them, the experiences they have had of his goodness, the care they took of, and the many prayers they put up for, those that should come after them. We may apply it to Christ, the Son of David, and to all his afflictions: "Lord, remember the covenant made with him and the satisfaction made by him. Remember all his offerings (Ps. xx. 3), that is, all his sufferings." He especially pleads the solemn vow that David had made as soon as ever he was settled in his government, and before he was well settled in a house of his own, that he would build a house for God. Observe, (1.) Whom he bound himself to, to the Lord, to the mighty God of Jacob. Vows are to be made to God, who is a party as well as a witness. The Lord is the Mighty One of Jacob, Jacob's God, and a mighty one, whose power is engaged for Jacob's defence and deliverance. Jacob is weak, but the God of Jacob is a mighty one. (2.) What he bound himself to do, to find out a place for the Lord, that is, for the ark, the token of his presence. He had observed in the law frequent mention of the place that God would choose to put his name there, to which all the tribes should resort. When he came to the crown there was no such place; Shiloh was deserted, and no other place was pitched upon, for want of which the feasts of the Lord were not kept with due solemnity. "Well," says David, "I will find out such a place for the general rendezvous of all the tribes, a place of habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob, a place for the ark, where there shall be room both for the priests and people to attend upon it." (3.) How intent he was upon it; he would not settle in his bed, till he had brought this matter to some head, v. 3, 4. The thing had been long talked of, and nothing done, till at last David, when he went out one morning about public business, made a vow that before night he would come to a resolution in this matter, and would determine the place either where the tent should be pitched for the reception of the ark, at the beginning of his reign, or rather where Solomon should build the temple, which was not fixed till the latter end of his reign, just after the pestilence with which he was punished for numbering the people (1 Chron. xxii. 1, Then David said, This is the house of the Lord); and perhaps it was upon occasion of that judgment that he made this vow, being apprehensive that one of God's controversies with him was for his dilatoriness in this matter. Note, When needful work is to be done for God it is good for us to task ourselves, and tie ourselves to a time, because we are apt to put off. It is good in the morning to cut out work for the day, binding ourselves that we will do it before we sleep, only with submission to Providence; for we know not what a day may bring forth. Especially in the great work of conversion to God we must be thus solicitous, thus zealous; we have good reason to resolve that we will not enjoy the comforts of this life till we have laid a foundation for hopes of a better.

2. That it was in pursuance of the expectations of the people of Israel, v. 6, 7. (1.) They were inquisitive after the ark; for they lamented its obscurity, 1 Sam. vii. 2. They heard of it at Ephratah (that is, at Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim); there they were told it had been, but it was gone. They found it, at last, in the fields of the wood, that is, in Kirjath-jearim, which signifies the city of woods. Thence all Israel fetched it, with great solemnity, in the beginning of David's reign (1 Chron. xiii. 6), so that in building his house for the ark Solomon had gratified all Israel. They needed not to go about to seek the ark anymore; they now knew where to find it. (2.) They were resolved to attend it: "Let us but have a convenient place, and we will go into his tabernacle, to pay our homage there; we will worship at his footstool as subjects and suppliants, which we neglected to do, for want of such a place, in the days of Saul," 1 Chron. xiii. 3.

II. What he prays for, v. 8-10. 1. That God would vouchsafe, not only to take possession of, but to take up his residence in, this temple which he had built: Arise, O Lord! into thy rest, and let this be it, thou, even the ark of thy strength, the pledge of thy presence, thy mighty presence. 2. That God would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty: Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; let them appear righteous both in their administrations and in their conversations, and let both be according to the rule. Note, Righteousness is the best ornament of a minister. Holiness towards God, and goodness towards all men, are habits for ministers of the necessity of which there is no dispute. "They are thy priests, and will therefore discredit their relation to thee if they be not clothed with righteousness." 3. That the people of God might have the comfort of the due administration of holy ordinances among them: Let thy saints shout for joy. They did so when the ark was brought into the city of David (2 Sam. vi. 15); they will do so when the priests are clothed with righteousness. A faithful ministry is the joy of the saints; it is the matter of it; it is a friend and a furtherance to it; we are helpers of your joy, 2 Cor. i. 24. 4. That Solomon's own prayer, upon occasion of the dedicating of the temple, might be accepted of God: "Turn not away the face of thy anointed, that is, deny me not the things I have asked of thee, send me not away ashamed." He pleads, (1.) That he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great anointed, who, in his intercession, urges his designation to his office. He is God's anointed, and therefore the Father hears him always. (2.) That he was the son of David: "For his sake do not deny me;" and this is the Christian's plea: "For the sake of Christ" (our David), "in whom thou art well pleased, accept me." He is David, whose name signifies beloved; and we are made accepted in the beloved. He is God's servant, whom he upholds, Isa. xlii. 1. "We have no merit of our own to plead, but for his sake, in whom there is a fulness of merit, let us find favour." When we pray for the prosperity of the church we may pray with great boldness, for Christ's sake, who purchased the church with his own blood. "Let both ministers and people do their duty."

God's Choice of Zion; God's Promises to Zion.

11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. 12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. 13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. 15 I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 17 There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

These are precious promises, confirmed by an oath, that the heirs of them might have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 17, 18. It is all one whether we take them as pleas urged in the prayer or as answers returned to the prayer; believers know how to make use of the promises both ways, with them to speak to God and in them to hear what God the Lord will speak to us. These promises relate to the establishment both in church and state, both to the throne of the house of David and to the testimony of Israel fixed on Mount Zion. The promises concerning Zion's hill are as applicable to the gospel-church as these concerning David's seed are to Christ, and therefore both pleadable by us and very comfortable to us. Here is,

I. The choice God made of David's house and Zion hill. Both were of divine appointment.

1. God chose David's family for the royal family and confirmed his choice by an oath, v. 11, 12. David, being a type of Christ, was made king with an oath: The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, will not turn from it. Did David swear to the Lord (v. 2) that he would find him a house? The Lord swore to David that he would build him a house; for God will be behind with none of his people in affections or assurances. The promise made to David refers, (1.) To a long succession of kings that should descend from his loins: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne, which was fulfilled in Solomon; David himself lived to see it with great satisfaction, 1 Kings i. 48. The crown was also entailed conditionally upon his heirs for ever: If thy children, in following ages, will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them. God himself engaged to teach them, and he did his part; they had Moses and the prophets, and all he expects is that they should keep what he taught them, and keep to it, and then their children shall sit upon thy throne for evermore. Kings are before God upon their good behaviour, and their commission from him runs quamdiu se bene gesserint—during good behaviour. The issue of this was that they did not keep God's covenant, and so the entail was at length cut off, and the sceptre departed from Judah by degrees. (2.) To an everlasting successor, a king that should descend from his loins of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. St. Peter applies this to Christ, nay, he tells us that David himself so understood it. Acts ii. 30, He knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; and in the fulness of time he did so, and gave him the throne of his father David, Luke i. 32. He did fulfill the condition of the promise; he kept God's covenant and his testimony, did his Father's will, and in all things pleased him; and therefore to him, and his spiritual seed, the promise shall be made good. He, and the children God has given him, all believers, shall sit upon the throne for evermore, Rev. iii. 21.

2. God chose Zion hill for the holy hill, and confirmed his choice by the delight he took in it, v. 13, 14. He chose the Mount Zion which he loved (Ps. lxxviii. 68); he chose it for the habitation of his ark, and said of it, This is my rest for ever, and not merely my residence for a time, as Shiloh was. Zion was the city of David; he chose it for the royal city because God chose it for the holy city. God said, Here will I dwell, and therefore David said, Here will I dwell, for here he adhered to his principle, It is good for me to be near to God. Zion must be here looked upon as a type of the gospel-church, which is called Mount Zion (Heb. xii. 22), and in it what is here said of Zion has its full accomplishment. Zion was long since ploughed as a field, but the church of Christ is the house of the living God (1 Tim. iii. 15), and it is his rest for ever, and shall be blessed with his presence always, even to the end of the world. The delight God takes in his church, and the continuance of his presence with his church, are the comfort and joy of all its members.

II. The choice blessings God has in store for David's house and Zion hill. Whom God chooses he will bless.

1. God, having chosen Zion hill, promises to bless that,

(1.) With the blessings of the life that now is; for godliness has the promise of them, v. 15. The earth shall yield her increase; where religion is set up there shall be provision, and in blessing God will bless it (Ps. lxvii. 6); he will surely and abundantly bless it. And a little provision, with an abundant blessing upon it, will be more serviceable, as well as more comfortable, than a great deal without that blessing. God's people have a special blessing upon common enjoyments, and that blessing puts a peculiar sweetness into them. Nay, the promise goes further: I will satisfy her poor with bread. Zion has her own poor to keep; and it is promised that God will take care even of them. [1.] By his providence they shall be kept from wanting; they shall have provision enough. If there be scarcity, the poor are the first that feel it, so that it is a sure sign of plenty if they have sufficient. Zion's poor shall not want, for God has obliged all the sons of Zion to be charitable to the poor, according to their ability, and the church must take care that they be not neglected, Acts vi. 1. [2.] By his grace they shall be kept from complaining; though they have but dry bread, yet they shall be satisfied. Zion's poor have, of all others, reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. And this may be understood spiritually of the provision that is made for the soul in the word and ordinances; God will abundantly bless that for the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. What God sanctifies to us we shall and may be satisfied with.

(2.) With the blessings of the life that is to come, things pertaining to godliness (v. 16), which is an answer to the prayer, v. 9. [1.] It was desired that the priests might be clothed with righteousness; it is here promised that God will clothe them with salvation, not only save them, but make them and their administrations instrumental for the salvation of his people; they shall both save themselves and those that hear them, and add those to the church that shall be saved. Note, Whom God clothes with righteousness he will clothe with salvation; we must pray for righteousness and then with it God will give salvation. [2.] It was desired that the saints might shout for joy; it is promised that they shall shout aloud for joy. God gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation he will give an abundant joy.

2. God, having chosen David's family, here promises to bless that also with suitable blessings. (1.) Growing power: There, in Zion, will I make the horn of David to bud, v. 17. The royal dignity shall increase more and more, and constant additions he made to the lustre of it. Christ is the horn of salvation (denoting a plentiful and powerful salvation) which God has raised up, and made to bud, in the house of his servant David. David had promised to use his power for God's glory, to cut off the horns of the wicked, and to exalt the horns of the righteous (Ps. lxxv. 10); in recompence for it God here promises to make his horn to bud, for to those that have power, and use it well, more shall be given. (2.) Lasting honour: I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. Thou wilt light my candle, Ps. xviii. 28. That lamp is likely to burn brightly which God ordains. A lamp is a successor, for, when a lamp is almost out, another may be lighted by it; it is a succession, for by this means David shall not want a man to stand before God. Christ is the lamp and the light of the world. (3.) Complete victory: "His enemies, who have formed designs against him, will I clothe with shame, when they shall see their designs baffled." Let the enemies of all good governors expect to be clothed with shame, and especially the enemies of the Lord Jesus and his government, who shall rise, in the great day, to everlasting shame and contempt. (4.) Universal prosperity: Upon himself shall his crown flourish, that is, his government shall be more and more his honour. This was to have its full accomplishment in Jesus Christ, whose crown of honour and power shall never fade, nor the flowers of it wither. The crowns of earthly princes endure not to all generations (Prov. xxvii. 24), but Christ's crown shall endure to all eternity and the crowns reserved for his faithful subjects are such as fade not away.

PSAL. CXXXII.

A Song of degrees.

IEhovah, remember unto David all his affliction. How he sware unto Iehovah, vowed unto the Mightie one of Iakob. If I enter into the tent of mine house; If I goe up on the pallet of my beds. If I give sleepe to mine eyes, slumber to mine eie-lids. Vntill I find a place for Iehovah, dwelling places for the Mighty one of Iakob. Loe, we heard it was in Ephrathah, we found it in the fields of the wood. We will goe into his dwelling places; we will bow downe our selves at the footstoole of his feet. Arise Iehovah to thy rest, thou, and the Arke of thy strength. Let thy Priests be cloathed with justice, and let thy gracious Saints joyfully shout. For thy servant Davids sake, turne not away the face of thine Anointed. Iehovah sware unto David, truth; he will not turne from it; of the fruit of thy wombe will I set upon thy throne. If thy sonnes keepe my Covenant, and my Testimony that I shall teach them; also their sonnes even to perpetuitie, shall sit upon thy throne. For Iehovah hath chosen Sion, hath desired it for his seat. This is my rest even to perpetuitie, here will I sit, for I have desired it. Her victuals I wil blessing blesse, her poore I wil satisfie with bread. And her Priests I will cloath with salvation, and her gracious Saints shall shouting shout joyfully. There will I make the horne of David to bud; I have ordained a lampe for mine Anointed. His enemies will I cloath with shame, and on him his crowne shall flourish.

Annotations. VNto David] or for him, that is, for good unto him: or, David with all his affliction. So Psal. 137. 7. affliction] or, humiliation, afflecting care, for to have the Arke brought home unto him, 1 Chron. 13. 1, 2, 3, 12. and 15. 1, 2. &c. or, to build God an house, 2 Sam. 7. 1, 2. Vers. 2. the Mightie one] in Greeke, the God of Iakob; so called first by Iakob himselfe, Gen. 49. 24. This title is also given to other things, as Psal. 78. 25. and 22. 13. Vers. 3. If I enter] that is, surely I will not enter: see Psal. 95. 11. and 89. 36. Compare this care of David with the contrary negligence of the people, Hag. 1. 4. 2 Sam. 7. 1, 2. mine house] mentioned, 1 Chron. 15. 1. Vers. 5. finde] that is, prepare, or build: so Act. 7. 46. Also in Psal. 36. 3. finding is accomplishing. for Iehovah] that is, for his Arke to rest in, which the Chaldee explaineth, a place for the house of the Lords Sanctuarie. dwelling places] or, habitacles: see Psal. 43. 3. Vers. 6. it] Gods Arke, vers. 8. Ephra[illegible: 1 letter]hah] the country of Ephraim, the citie Shilo, where Gods house and Arke had long continued, Iudg. 18. 31. and 21. 19. 1 Sam. 1. 3. therefore an Ephraimite is called an Ephrathite, Iudg. 12. 5. the fields of the wood] in the citie of Kirjath-jearim (that is, the Citie of the woods) where the Arke was twentie yeares, after it came home from the Philistines, 1 Sam. 6. 21. and 7. 1, 2. It was also called Balle (the plaines) of Iudah, 2 Sam. 6. 2. Vers. 7. at the foot stoole] or towards it, meaning the Sanctuarie: see Psal. 99. 5. Vers. 8. thy rest] the Sanctuary builded for thy name, as 1 Chr. 28. 2. 2 Chr. 6. 41. Arke] or Chist, Coffer, wch was made of Shittim (or Cedar) wood, overlaid with plates of gold, whose cover (called the Mercie-seat) was also of pure gold, on which were two glorious Cherubs of gold, from whence God gave his Oracle, Exod. 37. 1, 2,—6, 7. Num. 7. 89. In this Arke were the two Tables of the Law or Testimonie, written with the finger of God, Deut. 10. 3, 4, 5. This Arke is called Gods strength and glorie, Psal. 78. 61. For Arke of thy strength, the Chaldee saith, the Arke wherein thy Law is. Vers. 9. cloathed with justice] that is, let them justly and holily administer their Priests office. So Iob speaking of his just administration, saith, I put on justice, and it cloathed me, my judgement was as a robe and crowne, Iob 29. 14. Therefore the Priests had holy garments to administer in, Exod. 28. 2, 3. In 2 Chron. 6. 41. and after here in vers. 16. the Priests are cloathed with salvation: so Christ, and his people, Isa. 61. 10. Rev. 1. 13. and 19. 8. thy Saints] the people of Israel, 1 Chron. 15. 28. and specially the Levites which were singers in Gods Sanctuary. So the Chaldee paraphraseth, Let thy Priests be cloathed with the garments of justice, and let the Levites thy Saints say praises for the oblations. Vers. 10. Davids sake] for the promises made to David; or, for Christs sake, called often David: see Psal. 18. 51. turne not away the face] that is, deny not the request: as 1 King. 2. 16, 17, 20. Vers. 11. truth] that is, a true oath, a faithfull promise. fruit of thy wombe] or belly, that is, thy children: see 2 Sam. 7. 12. And this prophesie respecteth Christ, Act. 2. 30. Vers. 13. his seat] or dwelling place; see Ps. 68. 17. Vers. 15. victuals] or meat: see Psal. 78. 25. blessing blesse] this noteth certainty and abundance of blessing. Vers. 16. with salvation] the minstration of the word, whereby they save themselves and those that heare them, Deut. 33. 10. 1 Tim. 4. 16. So Gods ministers are called Saviours, Obad. 21. See before, vers. 9. The Chaldee translateth, with garments of salvation (or of redemption.) Vers. 17. the horne to bud] or to grow, that is, the kingdome and power to increase, as the Chaldee saith, I will make a glorious King to bud in the house of David. See Psal. 75. 5. and 89. 18, 25. So Christ is called the horne of salvation, Luke 1. 69. ordained a lampe] or, prepared a candle, the bright glorie of the kingdome by a successour; as 1 King. 11. 36. and 15. 4. 2 King. 8. 19. See Psal. 18. 29. Vers. 18. cloath with shame] the Chaldee saith, with garments of shame. He meaneth they shall be disappointed and confounded in all their enterprises: So Psal. 35. 26. and 109 29. crowne] or diademe; a signe of government and sanctitie: therefore the Greeke turneh it, sanctification: see Psal. 89. 40.

PSAL. CXXXII.

VErſ. 1 Lord, Remember David] Origen holdeth Solomon to have been pen-man of all theſe Songs of degrees, as hath been before noted. But as that is not [illegible: 4 letters]ly (ſee the titles of Pſal. 122. & 124. & 131.) ſo diverſe interpreters conceive this [illegible: 1 word] bee his; becauſe much of it is the ſame with that prayer hee made at the dedication of the Temple, 2 Chron. 6.16, 41, 42. Here then hee prayeth God to remember David, that is (not his merits and ſuffrages, as the Monks would have it, but) the promiſes made unto him (for the which Solomon praiſed God as well as for the performance to himſelf, 2 Chron. 6.10.) and his ſingular ſollicitude about the houſe and worſhip of God,Ita ut do[illegible: 1 letter]mire non potuit. Kimchi. which was ſo great, as that it affected, yea afflicted his ſpirit; whence it followeth here, and all his afflictions; for which it is, 2 Chron. 6.42. the mercies or kindneſs of David.

Verſ. 2. How he ſware unto the Lord] Out of the abundance of his affection, 1 Chron. 29.3. See Pſal. 119.106. he ſolemnly took God to witneſs: and this he did, ſay the Rabbines, at that time when he ſaw the puniſhing Angel, and was terrified.

And vowed to the mighty God of Jacob] Jacob is mentioned, ſay the Hebrews, Quia primò vovit, Kimchi. Aben-Ezra. becauſe he firſt vowed to God, Gen. 28.20. whence he is called, Pater votorum, the Father of vows.

Verſ. 3. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my houſe] i. e. Of my New-built houſe, 1 Chro. 15.1. 2 Sam. 1.2. Thoſe in Malachi were not ſo well-minded, chap. 1.4.

Verſ. 4. I will not give ſleep to mine eyes] viz. With any good content; or, more than needs muſt.

Verſ. 5. Until I finde out a place for the Lord] The Jew-Doctors tell us, that as the earth is in the middle of the world, ſo is Judea in the middle of the earth, Jeruſalem in the middle of Judea, the Temple in the middle of Jeruſalem, and the Ark in the middle of the Temple.

An habitation] Heb. Habitations: haply becauſe the Temple conſiſted of three parts, or partitions.

Verſ. 6. Lo we heard of it at Ephratae] At Bethlehem Ephrata, Davids Birth-place, there we heard of it long ſince by our Progenitours. Of it, that is, or the Ark, ſaith Chryſoſtom; Dicit [illegible: 1 letter]am in famin. i. e. divinam praeſentiam. R. Arama. of Gods reſting-place, ſaith Auſtin; of the place where Chriſt ſhould be born, ſaith Hierom; where the Temple ſhould be ſet, ſaith Aben-Ezra: where the Sbechinah, or divine preſence ſhould reſide, ſay other Rabbines.

We found it in the fields of the wood] At Jeruſalem, ſay ſome; or at Kiriath [illegible: 1 letter]earim, as others will have it. The Chaldee interpreteth it of the wood of Libanus, the place, ſaith he, where the Patriarchs worſhipped.

Verſ. 7. We will go into his Tabernacles] We will cheerfully and unanimouſly frequent his publick worſhips, in the place he hath pitched upon (called, his gates, and his Courts, Pſal. 100.4.) ſaying, as verſ. 8, 9, 10. [non-Latin text not transcribed], follow God, was the old rule among the very Heathens.

We will worſhip at his footſtool] i.e. At his Ark, where hee uttered Oracles, and wrought miracles, &c. which yet was but his footſtool, to lift his people heaven-ward, Chriſt-ward, who was the truth of that type, the Ark, the Mercyſeat.

Verſ. 8. Ariſe O Lord into thy reſt] The place of thy reſt: for the Ark was tranſportative, till ſetled in Solomons Temple: ſo, till we come to Heaven, wee are in continual motion.

Thou and the Ark of thy ſtrength] The Ark in the Temple was the chiefeſt evidence of Gods preſence, and the moſt principal type of Chriſt, in whom the fulneſe of the Godhead dwelleth bodily. The word is Aron, which is put for a Coffin, Coffer, or Chest, Gen. 50.20. 2 King. 12.9. This ſheweth, that all the Counſels of God, all the love and favour of God, all that God accounteth precious, are treaſured up in Chriſt, Col. 2.3. & 1.13 Iſa. 42.1. Heb. 10.12.

Verſ. 9. Let thy Prieſts be cloathed with righteouſneſs] i. e. With Salvation, as verſ. 16. No ſurer ſign of Gods gracious preſence with a people, than a powerful Miniſtery, cloathed with inward purity and holineſs, repreſented by the holy Garments.

And let thy Saints ſhout for joy] i. e. Thoſe that are converted by ſuch a Miniſtery; let thoſe that are juſtified by faith have peace with God, and joy unſpeakable, full of glory.

Verſ. 10. For thy ſervant Davids ſake] For thy Covenants ſake made with him, and for thy Chriſts ſake, who is oft called David, as Hoſ. 3. ult. ſo for the Lords ſake, Dan. 9.17.

Turn not away the face of thine anointed] Of thy Chriſt: defer not his coming, or deny not my requeſt, as 1 King. 2.16, 17, 20.

Verſ. 11. The Lord hath ſworn in truth] The Eternity of Iſrael cannot lye, 1 Sam. 15.29. yet tendring our infirmity, he ſweareth and ſealeth to us.

Of the fruit of thy body] David was excellent at making the utmoſt of a Promiſe, at preſſing, and oppreſſing it, till he had expreſt the ſweetneſs out of it, Iſa. 66.11. See how hee improveth Gods Promiſe, and worketh upon it, 1 Chron. 17.23, 24, 25, 26. Solomon had learned to do the like.

Verſ. 12 If thy Children will keep my Covenant] Although Gods Covenant is free, yet is it delivered under certain conditions on our part to bee obſerved; which are as an Oar in a Boat, or Stern in a Ship, turning it this way or that, &c.

For ever more] For a long ſeaſon and Chriſt, for all eternity.

Verſ. 13 For the Lord hath choſen Zion] Hee choſe it for his love; and loved it for his choice.

Verſ. 14 This is my reſt for ever] It was ſo becauſe God was pleaſed to make it ſo; hee reſted in his love; hee would ſeek no further, Zeph. 3.17.

For I have deſired it] This alone made the difference, as it a ſo did betwixt Aarons rod, and the reſt that were laid with it.

Verſ. 15 I will abundantly bleſs her proviſion] Her ſtock and her ſtore;Vi[illegible: 1 letter]tico ejus affatim benedicam. T[illegible: 1 letter]em. ſo that ſhe ſhall not want neceſſaries, which yet ſhee ſhall hunt for (that is, labour for) as the Hebrew word importeth; and know how ſhee comes by; therefore it is added

I will ſatisfie her poor with bread] Dainties I will not promiſe them; a ſufficiency but not a ſuperfluity: poor they may be, but not deſtitute bread they ſhall have, and of that, Gods plenty, as they ſay; enough to bring them to their Fathers houſe, where is bread enough. Let not therefore the poor Iſraelite fear to bring his offerings, or to disfurniſh himſelf for Gods worſhip, &c.

Verſ. 16 I will alſo cloath her Prieſts, &c.] So that they ſhall ſave themſelves and thoſe that hear them, 1 Tim. 4.16 Thus God anſwereth his peoples prayers both for temporalls and ſpiritualls: See verſ. 9. and that with an overplus of comfort; they ſhall ſhout aloud.

Verſ. 17 There will make the horn of David to bud] A metaphor from thoſe living creatures, quorum ramoſa ſunt cornua which have ſnags in their heads (as Deer have) which are unto them in ſtead of boughs. For horn, ſome read beam of David, confer Luk. 1.78.

I have ordained a Lamp] i. e. A ſucceſſor (— cui lampada tradat) and that a glorious one at length, Chriſt, who is [non-Latin text not transcribed] Light eſſentiall, Joh. 12.46. Of Aſcanius the ſon of Aeneas, and likewiſe of Tullus Hoſtilius, it is ſtoried, that light flames were ſeen about their heads, when they lay in their cradles; and that thereby was foreſignified, that they ſhould bee Kings.

Verſ. 18 His enemies will I cloath with ſhame] Shame ſhall bee the promotion of all ſuch fools as ſet againſt Chriſt and his people: yea they ſhall bee cloathed with it; ſo that it ſhall bee conſpicuous to all men.

But upon himſelf ſhall his Crown flouriſh] His royall Diadem,Nezer. whereby hee is ſeparated and diſtinguiſhed from other men. Alexander dropt his Diadem once into the water, and becauſe hee who fet it out, put it on his own head whiles hee ſwam out with it, hee cut off his head. Our Edward the fourth hanged one for ſaying hee would make his Son owner of the Crown; though hee only meant his own houſe (having a Crown for the ſign) in Cheapſide.

LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions. With David the covenant was made, and therefore his name is pleaded on behalf of his descendants, and the people who would be blessed by his dynasty. Jehovah, who changes not, will never forget one of his servants, or fail to keep his covenant; yet for this thing he is to be entreated. That which we are assured the Lord will do must, nevertheless, be made a matter of prayer. The request is that the Lord would remember, and this is a word full of meaning. We know that the Lord remembered Noah, and assuaged the flood; he remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of Sodom; he remembered Rachel, and Hannah, and gave them children; he remembered his mercy to the house of Israel, and delivered his people. That is a choice song wherein we sing, "He remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever"; and this is a notable prayer, "Lord remember me." The plea is urged with God that he would bless the family of David for the sake of their progenitor; how much stronger is our master argument in prayer that God would deal well with us for Jesus' sake! David had no personal merit; the plea is based upon the covenant graciously made With him: but Jesus has deserts which are his own, and of boundless merits these we may urge without hesitation. When the Lord was angry with the reigning prince, the people cried, "Lord remember David"; and when they needed any special blessing, again they sang, "Lord, remember David." This was good pleading, but it was not so good as ours, which runs on this wise, "Lord, remember Jesus, and all his afflictions."

The afflictions of David here meant were those which came upon him as a godly man his endeavours to maintain the worship of Jehovah, and to provide for its decent and suitable celebration. There was always an ungodly party in the nation, and these persons were never slow to slander, hinder, and molest the servant of the Lord. Whatever were David's faults, he kept true to the one, only, living, and true God; and for this he was a speckled bird among monarchs. Since he zealously delighted in the worship of Jehovah, his God, he was despised and ridiculed by those who could not understand his enthusiasm. God will never forget what his people suffer for his sake. No doubt innumerable blessings descend upon families and nations through the godly lives and patient sufferings of the saints. We cannot be saved by the merits of others, but beyond all question we are benefited by their virtues. Paul saith, "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward his name." Under the New Testament dispensation, as well as under the Old, there is a full reward for the righteous. That reward frequently comes upon their descendants rather than upon themselves: they sow, and their successors reap. We may at this day pray —Lord, remember the martyrs and confessors of our race, who suffered for thy name's sake, and bless our people and nation with gospel grace for our fathers' sakes.

How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Moved by intense devotion, David expressed his resolve in the form of a solemn vow, which was sealed with an oath. The fewer of such vows the better under a dispensation whose great Representative has said, "swear not at all." Perhaps even in this case it had been wiser to have left the pious resolve in the hands of God in the form of a prayer; for the vow was not actually fulfilled as intended, since the Lord forbade David to build him a temple. We had better not swear to do anything before we know the Lord's mind about it, and then we shall not need to swear. The instance of David's vows shows that vows are allowable, but it does not prove that they are desirable. Probably David went too far in his words, and it is well that the Lord did not hold him to the letter of his bond, but accepted the will for the deed, and the meaning of his promise instead of the literal sense of it. David imitated Jacob, that great maker of vows at Bethel, and upon him rested the blessing pronounced on Jacob by Isaac, "God Almighty bless thee" (Ge 28:3), which was remembered by the patriarch on his death bed, when he spoke of "the mighty God of Jacob." God is mighty to hear us, and to help us in performing our vow. We should be full of awe at the idea of making any promise to the Mighty God: to dare to trifle with him would be grievous indeed. It is observable that affliction led both David and Jacob into covenant dealings with the Lord: many vows are made in anguish of soul. We may also remark that, if the votive obligations of David are to be remembered of the Lord, much more are the suretyship engagements of the Lord Jesus before the mind of the great Lord, to whom our soul turns in the hour of our distress. Note, upon this verse, that Jehovah was the God of Jacob, the same God evermore; that he had this for his attribute, that he is mighty —mighty to succour his Jacobs who put their trust in him, though their afflictions be many. He is, moreover, specially the Mighty One of his people; he is the God of Jacob in a sense in which he is not the God of unbelievers. So here we have three points concerning our God: —name, Jehovah; attribute, mighty; special relationship, "mighty God of Jacob." He it is who is asked to remember David and his trials, and there is a plea for that blessing in each one of the three points.

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. Our translators give the meaning, though not the literal form, of David's vow, which ran thus, "If I go" —"If I go up", etc. This was an elliptical form of imprecation, implying more than it expressed, and having therefore about it a mystery which made it all the more solemn. David would not take his ease in his house, nor his rest in his bed, till he had determined upon a place for the worship of Jehovah. The ark had been neglected, the Tabernacle had fallen into disrespect; he would find the ark, and build for it a suitable house; he felt that he could not take pleasure in his own palace till this was done. David meant well, but he spake more than he could carry out. His language was hyperbolical, and the Lord knew what he meant: zeal does not always measure its terms, for it is not thoughtful of the criticisms of men, but is carried away with love to the Lord, who reads the hearts of his people. David would not think himself housed till he had built a house for the Lord, nor would he reckon himself rested till he had said, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest." Alas, we have many around us who will never carry their care for the Lord's worship too far! No fear of their being indiscreet? They are housed and bedded, and as for the Lord, his people may meet in a barn, or never meet at all, it will be all the same to them. Observe that Jacob in his vow spoke of the stone being God's house, and David's vow also deals with a house for God.

I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to wine eyelids. He could not enjoy sleep till he had done his best to provide a place for the ark. It is a strong expression, and it is not to be coolly discussed by us. Remember that the man was all on fire, and he was writing poetry also, and therefore his language is not that which we should employ in cold blood. Everybody can see what he means, and how intensely he means it. Oh, that many more were seized with sleeplessness because the house of the Lord lies waste? They can slumber fast enough, and not even disturb themselves with a dream, though the cause of God should be brought to the lowest ebb by their covetousness. What is to become of those who have no care about divine things, and never give a thought to the claims of their God?

Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. He resolved to find a place where Jehovah would allow his worship to be celebrated, a house where God would fix the symbol of his presence, and commune with his people. At that time, in all David's land, there was no proper place for that ark whereon the Lord had placed the mercy seat, where prayer could be offered, and where the manifested glory shone forth. All things had fallen into decay, and the outward forms of public worship were too much disregarded; hence the King resolves to be first and foremost in establishing a better order of things. Yet one cannot help remembering that the holy resolve of David gave to a place and a house much more importance than the Lord himself ever attached to such matters. This is indicated in Nathan's message from the Lord to the king —"Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?" Stephen in his inspired speech puts the matter plainly: "Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." It is a striking fact that true religion never flourished more in Israel than before the temple was built, and that from the day of the erection of that magnificent house the spirit of godliness declined. Good men may have on their hearts matters which seem to them of chief importance, and it may be acceptable with God that they should seek to carry them out; and yet in his infinite wisdom he may judge it best to prevent their executing their designs. God does not measure his people's actions by their wisdom, or want of wisdom, but by the sincere desire for his glory which has led up to them. David's resolution, though he was not allowed to fulfil it, brought a blessing upon him: the Lord promised to build the house of David, because he had desired to build the house of the Lord. Moreover, the King was allowed to prepare the treasure for the erection of the glorious edifice which was built by his son and successor. The Lord shows the acceptance of what we desire to do by permitting us to do something else which his infinite mind judges to be fitter for us, and more honourable to himself.

Meanwhile, where was the habitation of God among men? He was wont to shine forth from between the cherubim, but where was the ark? It was like a hidden thing, a stranger in its own land. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah. Rumours came that it was somewhere in the land of Ephraim, in a temporary lodging; rather an object of dread than of delight. Is it not wonderful that so renowned a symbol of the presence of the Lord should be lingering in neglect —a neglect so great that it was remarkable that we should have heard of its whereabouts at all? When a man begins to think upon God and his service it is comforting that the gospel is heard of. Considering the opposition which it has encountered it is marvellous that it should be heard of, and heard of in a place remote from the central city; but yet we are sorrowful that it is only in connection with some poor despised place that we do hear of it. What is Ephratah Who at this time knows where it was? How could the ark have remained there so long?

David instituted a search for the ark. It had to be hunted for high and low; and at last at Kirjathjearim, the forest city, he came upon it. How often do souls find Christ and his salvation in out of the way places! What matters where we meet with him so long as we do behold him, and final life in him? That is a blessed Eureka which is embedded in our text —"we found it." The matter began with hearing, led on to a search, and concluded in a joyful find. "We found it in the fields of the wood." Alas that there should be no room for the Lord in the palaces of kings, so that he must needs take to the woods. If Christ be in a wood he will yet be found of those who seek for him. He is as near in the rustic home, embowered among the trees, as in the open streets of the city; yea, he will answer prayer offered from the heart of the black forest where the lone traveller seems out of all hope of hearing. The text presents us with an instance of one whose heart was set upon finding the place where God would meet with him; this made him quick of hearing, and so the cheering news soon reached him. The tidings renewed his ardour, and led him to stick at no difficulties in his search; and so it came to pass that, where he could hardly have expected it, he lighted upon the treasure which he so much prized.

We will go into his tabernacles. Having found the place where he dwells we will hasten thereto. He has many dwellings in one in the various courts of his house, and each of these shall receive the reverence due: in each the priest shall offer for us the appointed service; and our hearts shall go where our bodies may not enter. David is not alone, he is represented as having sought for the ark with others, for so the word "we" implies; and now they are glad to attend him in his pilgrimage to the chosen shrine, saying, "We found it, we will go." Because these are the Lord's courts we will resort to them. We will worship at his footstool. The best ordered earthly house can be no more than the footstool of so great a King. His ark can only reveal the glories of his feet, according to his promise that he will make the place of his feet glorious: yet thither will we hasten with joy, in glad companionship, and there will we adorn him. Where Jehovah is, there shall he be worshipped. It is well not only to go to the Lord's house, but to worship there: we do but profane his tabernacles if we enter them for any other purpose. Before leaving this verse let us note the ascent of this Psalm of degrees —"We heard...we found...we will go...we will worship."

Here we come to a grand covenant pleading of the kind which is always prevalent with the Lord. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto, David. We cannot urge anything with God which is equal to his own word and oath. Jehovah swears that our faith may have strong confidence in it: he cannot forswear himself. He swears in truth, for he means every word that he utters; men may be perjured, but none will be so profane as to imagine this of the God of truth. By Nathan this covenant of Jehovah was conveyed to David, and there was no delusion in it. He will not turn from it. Jehovah is not a changeable being. He never turns from his purpose, much less from his promise solemnly ratified by oath. He turneth never. He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. What a rock they stand upon who have an immutable oath of God for their foundation! We know that this covenant was really made with Christ, the spiritual seed of David, for Peter quotes it at Pentecost, saying, "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ." Christ therefore sits on a sure throne for ever and ever, seeing that he has kept the covenant, and through him the blessing comes upon Zion, whose poor are blessed in him. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. Jesus sprang from the race of David, as the evangelists are careful to record; he was "of the house and lineage of David": at this day he is the King of the Jews, and the Lord has also given him the heathen for his inheritance. He must reign, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. God himself has set him on the throne, and no rebellion of men or devils can shake his dominion. The honour of Jehovah is concerned in his reign, and therefore it is never in danger; for the Lord will not suffer his oath to be dishonoured.

If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them. There is a condition to the covenant so far as it concerned kings of David's line before the coming of the true Seed; but he has fulfilled that condition, and made the covenant indefeasible henceforth and for ever as to himself and the spiritual seed in him. Considered as it related to temporal things it was no small blessing for David's dynasty to be secured the throne upon good behaviour. These monarchs held their crowns from God upon the terms of loyalty to their superior Sovereign, the Lord who had elevated them to their high position. They were to be faithful to the covenant by obedience to the divine law, and by belief of divine truth, they were to accept Jehovah as their Lord and their Teacher, regarding him in both relations as in covenant with them. What a condescension on God's part to be their teacher! How gladly ought they to render intelligent obedience! What a proper, righteous, and needful stipulation for God to make that they should be true to him when the reward was the promise, Their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. If they will sit at his feet God will make them sit on a throne; if they will keep the covenant they shall keep the crown from generation to generation.

The kingdom of Judah might have stood to this day had its kings been faithful to the Lord. No internal revolt or external attack could have overthrown the royal house of David: it fell by its own sin, and by nothing else. The Lord was continually provoked, but he was amazingly long suffering, for long after seceding Israel had gone into captivity, Judah still remained. Miracles of mercy were shown to her. Divine patience exceeded all limits, for the Lord's regard for David was exceeding great. The princes of David's house seemed set on ruining themselves, and nothing could save them; justice waited long, but it was bound at last to unsheathe the sword and strike. Still, if in the letter man's breach of promise caused the covenant to fail, yet in spirit and essence the Lord has been true to it, for Jesus reigns, and holds the throne for ever. David's seed is still royal, for he was the progenitor according to the flesh of him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. This verse shows us the need of family piety. Parents must see to it that their children know the fear of the Lord, and they must beg the Lord himself to teach them his truth. We have no hereditary right to the divine favour: the Lord keeps up his friendship to families from generation to generation, for he is loath to leave the descendants of his servants, and never does so except under grievous and long continued provocation. As believers, we are all in a measure under some such covenant as that of David: certain of us can look backward for four generations of saintly ancestors, and we are now glad to look forward and to see our children, and our children's children, walking in the truth. Yet we know that grace does not run in the blood, and we are filled with holy fear lest in any of our seed there should be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

For the LORD hath chosen Zion. It was no more than any other Canaanite town till God chose it, David captured it, Solomon built it, and the Lord dwelt in it. So was the church a mere Jebusite stronghold till grace chose it, conquered it, rebuilt it, and dwelt in it. Jehovah has chosen his people, and hence they are his people. He has chosen the church, and hence it is what it is. Thus in the covenant David and Zion, Christ and his people, go together. David is for Zion, and Zion for David: the interests of Christ and his people are mutual. He hath desired it for his habitation. David's question is answered. The Lord has spoken: the site of the temple is fixed: the place of the divine manifestation is determined. Indwelling follows upon election, and arises out of it: Zion is chosen, chosen for a habitation of God. The desire of God to dwell among the people whom he has chosen for himself is very gracious and yet very natural: his love will not rest apart from those upon whom he has placed it. God desires to abide with those whom he has loved with an everlasting love; and we do not wonder that it should be so, for we also desire the company of our beloved ones. It is a double marvel, that the Lord should choose and desire such poor creatures as we are: the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in believers is a wonder of grace parallel to the incarnation of the Son of God. God in the church is the wonder of heaven, the miracle of eternity, the glory of infinite love.

This is my rest for ever. Oh, glorious words! It is God himself who here speaks. Think of rest for God! A Sabbath for the Eternal and a place of abiding for the Infinite. He calls Zion my rest. Here his love remains and displays itself with delight. "He shall rest in his love." And this forever. He will not seek another place of repose, nor grow weary of his saints. In Christ the heart of Deity is filled with content, and for his sake he is satisfied with his people, and will be so world without end. These august words declare a distinctive choice —this and no other; a certain choice —this which is well known to me; a present choice —this which is here at this moment. God has made his election of old, he has not changed it, and he never will repent of it: his church was his rest and is his rest still. As he will not turn from his oath, so he will never turn from his choice. Oh, that we may enter into his rest, may be part and parcel of his church, and yield by our loving faith a delight to the mind of him who taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy. Here will I dwell; for I have desired it. Again are we filled with wonder that he who fills all things should dwell in Zion —should dwell in his church. God does not unwillingly visit his chosen; he desires to dwell with them; he desires them. He is already in Zion, for he says here, as one upon the spot. Not only will he occasionally come to his church, but he will dwell in it, as his fixed abode. He cared not for the magnificence of Solomon's temple, but he determined that at the mercy seat he would be found by suppliants, and that thence he would shine forth in brightness of grace among the favoured nation. All this, however, was but a type of the spiritual house, of which Jesus is foundation and cornerstone, upon which all the living stones are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Oh, the sweetness of the thought that God desires to dwell in his people and rest among them! Surely if it be his desire he will cause it to be so. If the desire of the righteous shall be granted much more shall the desire of the righteous God be accomplished. This is the joy of our souls, for surely we shall rest in God, and certainly our desire is to dwell in him. This also is the end of our fears for the church of God; for if the Lord dwell in her, she shall not be moved; if the Lord desire her, the devil cannot destroy her.

I will abundantly bless her provision. It must be so. How can we be without a blessing when the Lord is among us? We live upon his word, we are clothed by his charity, we are armed by his power: all sorts of provision are in him, and how can they be otherwise than blessed? The provision is to be abundantly blessed;then it will be abundant and blessed. Daily provision, royal pie vision, satisfying provision, overflowingly joyful provision the church shall receive; and the divine benediction shall cause us to receive it with faith, to feed upon it by experience, to grow upon it by sanctification, to be strengthened by it to labour, cheered by it to patience, and built up by it to perfection. I will satisfy her poor with bread. The citizens of Zion are poor in themselves, poor in spirit, and often poor in pocket, but their hearts and souls shall dwell in such abundance that they shall neither need more nor desire more. Satisfaction is the crown of experience. Where God rests his people shall be satisfied. They are to be satisfied with what the Lord himself calls "bread", and we may be sure that he knows what is really bread for souls. He will not give us a stone. The Lord's poor shall "have food convenient for them": that which will suit their palate, remove their hunger, fill their desire, build up their frame, and perfect their growth. The breadth of earth is "the bread that perisheth", but the bread of God endureth to life eternal. In the church where God rests his people shall not starve; the Lord would never rest if they did. He did not take rest for six days till he had prepared the world for the first man to live in; he would not stay his hand till all things were ready; therefore, we may be sure if the Lord rests it is because "it is finished", and the Lord hath prepared of his goodness for the poor. Where God finds his desire his people shall find theirs; if he is satisfied, they shall be. Taking the two clauses together, we see that nothing but an abundant blessing in the church will satisfy the Lord's poor people: they are naked and miserable till that comes. All the provision that Solomon himself could make would not have satisfied the saints of his day: they looked higher, and longed for the Lord's own boundless blessing, and hungered for the bread which came down from heaven. Blessed be the Lord, they had in this verse two of the "I wills" of God to rest upon, and nothing could be a better support to their faith.

More is promised than was prayed for. See how the ninth verse asks for the priests to be clad in righteousness, and the answer is, I will also clothe her priests with salvation. God is wont to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or even think. Righteousness is but one feature of blessing, salvation is the whole of it. What cloth of gold is this! What more than regal array! Garments of salvation! we know who has woven them, who has dyed them, and who has given them to his people. These are the best robes for priests and preachers, for princes and people; there is none like them; give them me. Not every priest shall be thus clothed, but only her priests, those who truly belong to Zion by faith which is in Christ Jesus who hath made them priests unto God. These, are clothed by the Lord himself, and none can clothe as he does. It even the grass of the field is so clothed by the Creator as to out do Solomon in all his glory, how must his own children be clad? Truly he shall be admired in his saints; the liveries of his servants shall be the wonder of heaven. And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. Again we have a golden answer to a silver prayer. The Psalmist would have the "saints shout for joy." "That they shall do", saith the Lord, "and aloud too"; they shall be exceedingly full of delight; their songs and shouts shall be so hearty that they shall sound as the noise of many waters, and as great thunders. These joyful ones are not, however, the mimic saints of superstition, but her saints, saints of the Most High, "sanctified in Christ Jesus." These shall be so abundantly blessed and so satisfied, and so apparelled that they can do no otherwise than shout to show their astonishment, their triumph, their gratitude, their exultation, their enthusiasm, their joy in the Lord. Zion has no dumb saints. The sight of God at rest among his chosen is enough to make the most silent shout. If the morning stars sang together when the earth and heavens were made, much more will all the sons of God shout for joy when the new heavens and the new earth are finished, and the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband. Meanwhile, even now the dwelling of the Lord among us is a perennial fountain of sparkling delight to all holy minds. This shouting for joy is guaranteed to Zion's holy ones: God says they shall shout aloud, and depend upon it they will: who shall stop them of this glorying? The Lord hath said by his Spirit, "let them shout aloud": who is he that shall make them hold their peace? The Bridegroom is with them, and shall the children of the bride chamber fast?: Nay, verily, we rejoice, yea and will rejoice.

There will I make the horn of David to bud. In Zion David's dynasty shall develop power and glory. In our notes from other authors we have included a description of the growth of the horns of stags, which is the natural fact from which we conceive the expression in the text to be borrowed. As the stag is made noble and strong by the development of his horns, so the house of David shall advance from strength to strength. This was to be by the work of the Lord —"there will I make", and therefore it would be sure and solid growth. When God makes us to bud none can cause us to fade. When David's descendants left the Lord and the worship of his house, they declined in all respects, for it was only through the Lord, and in connection will his worship that their horn would bud. I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. David's name was to be illustrious, and brilliant as a lamp; it was to continue shining like a lamp in the sanctuary; it was thus to be a comfort to the people, and an enlightenment to the nations. God would not suffer the light of David to go out by the extinction of his race: his holy ordinances had decreed that the house of his servant should remain in the midst of Israel. What a lamp is our Lord Jesus! A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. As the anointed —the true Christ, he shall be the light of heaven itself. Oh for grace to receive our illumination and our consolation from Jesus Christ alone.

His enemies will I clothe with shame. They shall be utterly defeated, they shall loathe their evil design, they shall be despised for having hated the Ever Blessed One. Their shame they will be unable to hide, it shall cover them: God will array them in it for ever, and it shall be their convict dress to all eternity. But upon himself shall his crown flourish. Green shall be his laurels of victory. He shall win and wear the crown of honour, and his inherited diadem shall increase in splendour. Is it not so to this hour with Jesus? His kingdom cannot fail, his imperial glories cannot fade. It is himself that we delight to honour; it is to himself that the honour comes, and upon himself that it flourishes. If others snatch at his crown their traitorous aims are defeated; but he in his own person reigns with ever growing splendour.

"Crown him, crown him,

Crowns become the victor's brow."

Whole Psalm. Lightfoot ascribes this Psalm to David, and supposes it to have been composed on the second removal of the ark from the house of Obededom: 1Ch 15:4, etc. But the mention of David's name in the tenth verse in the third person, and the terms there employed, militate against his being the author. Others ascribe it to Solomon, who, they think, wrote it about the time of the removing of the ark into the Temple which he had built for it: 2Ch 5:2, etc. Others are of opinion, that it was composed by Solomon for the solemn services that were celebrated at the dedication of the Temple. —James Anderson's note to Calvin in loc.

Whole Psalm. The Psalm is divided into four stanzas of ten lines, each of which contains the name of David. The first part begins with speaking of David's vow to the Lord, the third with the Lord's promise to David. —William Kay.

Whole Psalm. The parallelisms need to be traced with some care. Ps 132:1-6 are answered by Ps 132:12, Ps 132:7 by Ps 132:13; Ps 132:8 by Ps 132:14; Ps 132:9 by Ps 132:15-16; Ps 132:10 by Ps 132:17-18. An attention to these parallelisms is often necessary to bring out the meaning of Scripture. —Joseph Angus, in "The Bible Handbook", 1862.

LORD, remember. It is a gracious privilege to be permitted to be God's reminders. Faith is encouraged to remind him of his covenant, and of his precious promises. There is, indeed, no forgetfulness with him. The past, as also the future, is a present page before his eye. But by this exercise we impress on our own minds invaluable lessons. —Henry Law.

Remember David, and all his afflictions. Solomon was a wise man, yet pleads not any merit of his own; —I am not worthy, for whom thou shouldest do this, but, "Lord, remember David", with whom thou madest the covenant; as Moses prayed (Ex 32:13), "Remember Abraham", the first trustee of the covenant; remember "all his afflictions"; all the troubles of his life, which his being anointed was the occasion of; or his care and concern about the ark, and what an uneasiness it was to him that the ark was in curtains (2Sa 7:2). Remember all his humility and weakness, so some read it; all that pious and devout affection with which he had made the following vow. —Matthew Henry.

Remember...all his afflictions. The sufferings of believers for tim cause of truth are not meritorious, but neither are they in vain; they are not forgotten by God. Mt 5:11-12. —Christopher Starke, 1740.

Afflictions. The Hebrew word for "afflictions" is akin to the word for "trouble" in 1Ch 12:14: "Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold." —H. T. Armfeld.

Verses 1-2. If the Jew could rightly appeal to God to show mercy to his church and nation for the sake of that shepherd youth whom he had advanced to the kingdom, much more shall we justly plead our cause in the name of David's son (called David four times in the prophets), and of all his trouble, all the sorrows of his birth and infancy, his ministry and passion and death, which he bore as a consequence of his self dedication to his father's will, when his priesthood, foreordained from all eternity, was confirmed with an oath, "for these Levitical priests were made without swearing an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek": Heb 7:21 Ps 100:4. —Theodoret and C'assiodorus, in Neale and Littledale.

And vowed. The history does not record the time nor the occasion of this vow; but history does record how it was ever in David's thoughts and on David's heart. David, indeed, in the first verse, asks of God to remember his afflictions, and then records his vow; and you may, perhaps, think that the vow was the consequence of his afflictions, and that he made it contingent on his deliverance ...It is far more consistent with the character of David to look upon the affliction to which he alludes as resulting from the Lord's not permitting him to carry out his purpose of erecting an earthly habitation for the God of heaven, inasmuch as he had shed blood abundantly. And if, as is more than probable, amid that blood which he had shed, David's conscience recalled the blood of Uriah as swelling the measure, he could not but be deeply afflicted, even while he acknowledged the righteousness of the sentence. But though not permitted of God to execute his purpose, we cannot but feel and own that it was a noble resolution which David here makes; and though recorded in all the amplification of Oriental imagery, it expresses the holy determination of the Psalmist to forego every occupation and pursuit, and not to allow a single day to elapse till he had at least fixed on the site of the future temple. —Barton Bouchier.

He vowed. He who is ready to vow on every occasion will break his vow on every occasion. It is a necessary rule, that "we be as sparing in making our vows as may be"; there being many great inconveniences attending frequent and multiplied vows. It is very observable, that the Scripture mentions very few examples of vows, compared with the many instances of very great and wonderful providences; as if it would give us some instances, that we might know what we have to do, and yet would give us but few, that we might know we are not to do it often. You read Jacob lived seven score and seven years (Ge 47:28); but you read, I think, but of one vow that he made. Our extraordinary exigencies are not many; and, I say, our vows should not be more. Let this, then, be the first necessary ingredient of a well ordered vow. Let it be no oftener made than the pressing greatness of an evil to be removed, or the alluring excellency of a blessing extraordinary to be obtained, will well warrant. Jephthah's vow was so far right; he had just occasion; there was a great and pressing danger to be removed; there was an excellent blessing to be obtained: the danger was, lest Israel should be enslaved; the blessing was victory over their enemies. This warranted his vow, though his rashness marred it. It was in David's troubles that David sware, and vowed a vow to the Most High; and Jacob forbare to vow until his more than ordinary case bade his vow, and warranted him in so doing: Ge 28:20. Let us do as he did, —spare to vow, until such case puts us on it. —Henry Hurst (1629? —1690), in "The Morning Exercises."

Vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. The first holy votary that ever we read of was Jacob here mentioned in this text, who is therefore called thee father of vows: and upon this account some think David mentions God here under the title of "the mighty God of Jacob", rather than any other, because of his vow. —Abraham Wright.

The mighty God of Jacob. The title strong one of Jacob, by which God is here designated, first used by Jacob himself, Ge 49:24, and thence more generally used as is clear from Isa 1:24 49:26, and other places, here sets forth God both as the most mighty who is able most severely to punish perjury, and with whom no one may dare to contend, and also as the defender and most mighty vindicator of Israel, such as Jacob had proved him, and all his descendants, in particular David, who frequently rejoiced and gloried in this mighty one and defender. Such a mighty one of Jacob was worthy to have a temple built for him, and was so great that he would not suffer perjury. —Hermann Venema.

Where the interpreters have translated, "the God of Jacob", it is in the Hebrew, "the mighty in Jacob." Which name is sometimes attributed unto the angels, and sometimes it is also applied to other things wherein are great strength and fortitude; as to a lion, an ox, and such like. But here it is a singular word of faith, signifying that God is the power and strength of his people; for only faith ascribes this unto God. Reason and the flesh do attribute more to riches, and such other worldly helps as man seeth and knoweth. All such carnal helps are very idols, which deceive men, and draw them to perdition; but this is the strength and fortitude of the people, to have God present with them...So the Scripture saith in another place: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord." Likewise Paul saith: "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." For this power is eternal, and deceives not. All other powers are not only deceitful, but they are transitory, and continue but for a moment. —Martin Luther.

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, etc. To avoid the absurdity of thinking that David should make such a rash and unwarrantable vow as this might seem to be, that till he had his desire satisfied in that which is afterwards expressed he would abide in the open air, and never go within his doors, nor ever take any rest, either by day or by night, some say that David spake this with reference to his purpose of taking the fort of Zion from the Jebusites (2Sa 5:6), where by revelation he knew that God meant to have the ark settled, and which he might probably think would be accomplished within some short time. And then others again say, that he meant it only of that stately cedar house, which he had lately built for himself at Jerusalem (2Sa 7:1-2), to wit, that he would not go into that house; and so also that he would not go up unto his bed, nor (Ps 132:4) give any sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, to wit, in that house. But neither of these expositions gives me any satisfaction. I rather take these to be hyperbolical expressions of the continual, exceeding great care wherewith he was perplexed about providing a settled place for the ark to rest in, like that in Pr 6:4-5: "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids; deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter", etc. Neither is it any more in effect than if he had said, I will never lay by this care to mind myself in anything whatsoever: I shall never with any content abide in mine own house, nor with any quiet rest in my bed, until, etc. —Arthur Jackson, 1593-1666.

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, etc. When he had built himself a palace (1Ch 15:1), it appears by the context, that he did not bless it (1Ch 16:43), nor consequently live in it (for that he might not do till it were blest) until he had first prepared a place, and brought up the ark to it. —Henry Hammond.

Surely I will not come, etc. Our translation of the verse is justified by Aben Ezra, who remarks that oa is here to be translated not in its usual sense of "if", —"if I shall come" —but as introducing a vow, "I will not come." This idiom, it may be observed, is more or less missed by our existing translation of Heb 4:5: "And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest" —a translation which is the more curious from the fact that the idiom in the present Psalm is hit off exactly in the preceding chapter, Heb 3:11: "So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." —H. T. Armfield.

I will not come into the tent which is my house. What does this singular form of expression denote? Is it "an instance of the way in which the associations of the old patriarchal tent life fixed themselves in the language of the people", as Perowne suggests? or does David deliberately select it to imply that even his palace is but a tent as compared with the Huse that he will rear for God? —Samuel Cox.

Nor go up into my bed. From the expression of the Psalmist it would seem that a lofty bed was not only a necessary luxury, but a sign of superior rank. This idea was very prevalent in the period of the revival of the arts on the Continent, whole the state bed, often six feet high, always stood on a dais in an alcove, richly curtained off from the saloon. In the East the same custom still continues, and a verse in the Koran declares it to be one of the delights of the faithful in paradise that "they shall repose themselves on lofty beds" (Cap. 56, "The Inevitable"). Frequently these state beds were composed of the most costly and magnificent materials. The prophet Amos speaks of ivory beds (Am 6:4); Nero had a golden one; that of the Mogul Aurungzeebe was jewelled; and, lastly, in the privy purse expenses of our own profligate Charles II., we read of a "silver bedstead for Mrs. Gwynn." And to this day the state bedsteads in the viceregal palace at Cairo are executed in the same metal, and are supposed to have cost upwards of 3,000 pounds sterling each. —From "The Biblical Museum," 1879.

Verses 3-5. Surely I will not Come, etc. These were all types and figures of Christ, the true David, who, in his desire of raising a living temple, and an everlasting tabernacle to God, spent whole nights in prayer, and truly, neither entered his house, nor went up into his bed, nor gave slumber to his eyelids, nor rest to his temples, and presented to himself "a glorious church, not having spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing", nor built "with corruptible gold or silver", but with his own precious sweat and more precious blood; it was with them he built that city in heaven that was seen by St. John in the Apocalypse, and "was ornamented with all manner of precious stones." Hecen, we can all understand the amount of care, cost and labour we need to erect a becoming temple in our hearts to God. —Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), in "A Commentary on the Book of Psalms."

Verses 3-5. This admirable zeal of this pious king condemns the indifference of those who leave the sacred places which are dependent upon their care in a condition of shameful, neglect, while they lavish all their care to make for themselves sumptuous houses. —Pasquier Quesnel (1634-1719), dans "Les Pseaumes, avec des Reflexions, "1700.

An habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Jacob "vowed a vow", when he declared, "this...shall be God's house": Ge 28:20-22. David accordingly preserved a reminiscence of the fact, when he vowed a vow in connection with a similar object. —H. T. Armfield.

We heard of it at Ephratah. This is commonly understood of Bethlehem, as that place had this name. But the ark never was at Bethlehem, at least we read of no such thing. There was a district called by this name, or one closely resembling it, where Elkanah, Samuel's father, lived, and whence Jeroboam came, both of whom are called Ephrathites. 1Sa 1:1 1Ki 11:26. This was in the tribe of Ephraim, and is probably the place meant by the Psalmist. Now the ark had been for a long series of years at Shiloh, which is in Ephraim, when it was taken to be present at the battle with the Philistines, in which Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were slain, and when thirty thousand of the Israelites lost their lives, together with the capture of the ark. The frightful report of this calamity was brought to Eli, and occasioned his instant death. This appears to be the event referred to in the words, "We heard of it at Ephratah"; and a grievous report it was, not likely to be soon forgotten. We found it in the fields of Jaar. After the ark had been for some time in the land of the Philistines, they sent it away, and it came to Bethshemesh, in the tribe of Judah. 1Sa 6:12. In the immediate vicinity of this place was also Kirjathjearim, i.e. the city of Jaar, to which the ark was removed; for the Bethshemites were afraid to retain it, as many thousands of them had lost their lives, for the violation of the sanctity of the ark, by looking into it. As this slaughter took place close by, if not in the fields of Jaar, the Psalmist, with reference to it, says, "We found it in the fields of Jaar." Having glanced at these two afflictive and memorable events, he goes on with his direct design, of encouraging the people to perform due honour to the ark, and to the temple, by contrasting with the sad occurrences to which he had adverted their present joy and prosperity. —William Walford, in "The Book of Psalms. A New Translation, with Notes." 1837.

We heard of it at Ephratah, etc. Either of the ark which David and others had heard of, that it formerly was at Shiloh (Jos 18:1), here called Ephratah, as some think; so the Ephraimites are called Ephrathites (Jud 12:5); and Elkanah of Ramathaimzophim, of Mount Ephraim, is said to be an Ephrathite (1Sa 1:1); but this tribe the Lord chose not, but the tribe of Judah, for his habitation; and rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh, and removed it from thence (Ps 78:60,67-68). "We found it in the fields of the wood; "at Kirjathjearim, which signifies the city of woods;being built among woods, and surrounded with them: here the ark was twenty years, and here David found it; and from hence he brought it to the house of Obededom, and from thence to Zion. Christ has been found in the fields of the wood;in a low, mean, abject state, as this phrase signifies: Eze 16:5. The shepherds found him rejected from being in the inn, there being no room for him, anti lying in a manger (Lu 2:7,16); the angels found him in the wilderness, among the wild beasts of the field (Mk 1:13); nor had he the convenience even of foxes and birds of the air; he had no habitation or place where to lay his head: Mt 8:20. And he is to be found in the field of the Scriptures, where tiffs rich treasure and pearl of great price lies hid: Mt 8:44. —John Gill.

We heard of it at Ephratah. The only explanation, equally agreeable to usage and the context, is that which makes Ephratah the ancient name of Bethlehem (Ge 48:7), here mentioned as the place where David spent his youth, and where he used to hear of the ark, although he never saw it till long afterwards, when he found it in the fields of the wood, in the neighbourhood of Kirjathjearim, which name means Forest town, or City of the Woods. Compare 1Sa 7:1 with 2Sa 6:3-4. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

We heard of it at Ephratah, etc. Having prepared a sumptuous tabernacle, or tent, for the ark on Mount Zion, in the "City of David", a great national assembly was summoned, at which all the tribes were invited to attend its removal to this new sanctuary. The excitement spread over all Israel. "We heard men say at Ephratah Bethlehem, in the south of the land, and we found them repeat it in the woody Lebanon", sings the writer of the 132nd Psalm, according to Ewald's rendering. "Let us go into his tabernacle; let us worship at his footstool." The very words of the summons were fitted to rouse the deepest feelings of the nation, for they were to gather at Baalah, of Judah, another name for Kirjathjearim, to "bring up thence" to the mountain capital "the Ark of God, called by the name, the name of Jehovah of Hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim": 2Sa 6:2. It "had not been enquired at in the days of Saul": but, when restored, the nation would have their great palladium once more in their midst, and could "appear before God in Zion." and be instructed and taught in the way they should go. —Cunningham Geikie, in "Hours with the Bible." 1881.

Ephratah. The Psalmist says, that David himself, even when a youth in Bethlehem Ephratah, heard of the sojourn of the ark in Kirjathjearim, and that it was a fond dream of David's boyhood to be permitted to bring up the ark to some settled habitation, which he desired to find (Ps 132:5). —Christopher Wordsworth.

We found it. The Church can never long be hid. The sun reappears after a short eclipse. —Henry Law.

It is not always where we first seek God that he is to be found. "We heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood." We must not be governed by hearsay in seeking for God in Christ; but seek for ourselves until we find. It is not in every house of prayer that God in Christ can be found: after seeking him in gorgeous temples we may find him "in the fields of the wood." "If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there; believe it not" upon his own testimony, but seek him for yourselves. —George Rogers, 1883.

We will go...we will worship. Note their agreement and joint consent, which is visible in the pronoun "we": "We will go." "We" taketh in a whole nation, a whole people, the whole world, and maketh them one. "We" maketh a commonwealth; and "we" maketh a church. We go up to the house of the Lord together, and we hope to go to heaven together. Note their alacrity and cheerfulness in going. Their long absence rendered the object more glorious. For, what we love and want, we love the more and desire the more earnestly. When Hezekiah, having been "sick unto death", had a longer lease of life granted him, he asketh the question, "What is the sign" (not, that I shall live, but) "that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?" Isa 38:1-22. Love is on the wing, cheerful to meet its object; yea, it reacheth it at a distance, arid is united to it while it is afar off..."We will go." We long to be there. We will hasten our pace. We will break through all difficulties in the way. —Condensed from Anthony Farinclen.

(first clause.) Tabernacles are spoken of in the plural number, and this it may be (though we may doubt whether the Psalmist had such minute distinctions in his eye) because there was in the Temple an inner sanctuary, a middle apartment, and then the court. It is of more importance to attend to the epithet which follows, where the Psalmist calls the Ark of the Covenant God's footstool, to intimate that the sanctuary could never contain the immensity of God's essence, as men were apt absurdly to imagine. The mere outward Temple with all its majesty being no more than his footstool, his people were called upon to look upwards to the heavens, and fix their contemplations with due reverence upon God himself. —John Calvin.

The Lord's "footstool" here mentioned was either the Ark of the Testimony itself, or the place at least where it stood, called Debir, or the Holy of Holies, towards which the Jews in their temple used to worship. The very next words argue so much: "Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength"; and it is plain out of 1Ch 28:2, where David saith concerning his purpose to have built God an house, "I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God", where the conjunction and is exegetical, and the same with that is. According to this expression the prophet Jeremy also, in the beginning of the second of his Lamentations, bewaileth that "the Lord had cast down the beauty of Israel" (that is, his glorious Temple), "and remembered not his footstool"(that is, the Ark of the Covenant), "in the day of his wrath"; as Isa 60:7 64:11 Ps 96:6.

That this is the true and genuine meaning of this phrase of worshipping the Lord towards his footstool, besides the confessed custom of the time, is evidently confirmed by a parallel expression of this worshipping posture (Ps 28:2): "Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up mine hands Kvdq rybd-la towards thy holy oracle":that is, towards the Most Holy place where the ark stood, and from whence God gave his answers. For that rybd Debir, which is here translated "oracle" was the Sanctum Sanctorum or Most Holy place, is clear out of the sixth and eighth chapters of the First Book of Kings; where in the former we read (Ps 132:19) that "Solomon prepared the oracle or Debir, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there": in the latter (Ps 132:6), that "the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims." Wherefore the authors of the translation used in our Liturgy rendered this passage of the Psalm, "When I hold up my hands toward the mercy seat of thy holy temple"; namely, having respect to the meaning thereof. Thus you see that one of the two must needs be this scabellum pedum, or "footstool" of God, either the ark or mercy seat itself, or the adytum Templi, the Most Holy place, where it stood. For that it is not the whole Temple at large (though it might be so called), but some thing or part of those that are within it the first Words of my text ("We will go into his tabernacles") do argue. If, then, it be the ark (whose cover was that which we call the mercy seat), it seems to have been so called in respect of God's sitting upon the cherubims, under which the ark lay, as it were his footstool: whence sometimes it is described, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, which sitteth upon the cherubims": 1Sa 4:4. If the ark, with the cover thereof (the mercyseat), be considered as God's throne, then the place thereof, the Debir, may not unfitly be termed his "footstool." Or, lastly, if we consider heaven to be the throne of God, as indeed it is, then whatsoever place or monument of presence he hath here on earth is in true esteem no more than his "footstool." —Joseph Mede, 1586-1638.

In these three verses we see the finders of the ark removing it to its appointed place, using a formula somewhat like to that used by Moses when he said, "Rise up, Lord", and again, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." The ark had been long upon the move, and no fit place had been found for it in Canaan, but now devout men have prepared a temple, and they sing, Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. They hoped that now the covenant symbol had found a permanent abode —a rest, and they trusted that Jehovah would now abide with it for ever. Vain would it be for the ark to be settled if the Lord did not continue with it, and perpetually shine forth from between the cherubim. Unless the Lord shall rest with us there is no rest for us; unless the ark of his strength abide with us we are ourselves without strength. The ark of the covenant is here mentioned by a name which it well deserved; for in its captivity it smote its captors, and broke their gods, and when it was brought back it guarded its own honour by the death of those who dared to treat it with disrespect. The power of God was thus connected with the sacred chest. Reverently, therefore, did Solomon pray concerning it as he besought the living God to consecrate the temple by his presence. It is the Lord and the covenant, or rather say the covenant Jehovah whose presence we desire in our assemblies, and this presence is the strength of his people. Oh that the Lord would indeed abide in all the churches, and cause his power to be revealed in Zion.

Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. Whenever the camp was about to move, Moses used the language found in the first part of this verse. "Arise (or rise up), O Jehovah." —William Swan Plumer.

Thou, and the ark of thy strength. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one" Heb 2:11. Now Christ, our Great High Priest, is gone up into the holy resting place. Of him it is said, "Arise": for he arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. And to his "ark", the church, it is said, "Arise": because he lives, all in him shall live also. —Edward Simms, in "A Spiritual Commentary on the Book of Psalms," 1882.

The ark of thy strength. The historical records of the ark are numerous, and deeply interesting. Miracles were often wrought at its presence. At the passage of the Jordan, no sooner were the feet of the priests which bare this holy vessel dipped in the brim of the river, than the waters rose up upon an heap, and the people of God passed over on dry ground —"clean over Jordan": Jos 3:14-17. At the siege of Jericho, the ark occupied a most prominent position in the daily procession of the tribes around the doomed city...It was, however, captured by the Philistines, and Hophni and Phineas, Eli's wicked sons, in whose care it was placed, slain. Thus the Lord "delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand": Ps 78:61. —Frank H. White, in "Christ in the Tabernacle," 1877.

Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness. No garment is so resplendent as that of a holy character. In this glorious robe our great High priest is evermore strayed, and he would have all his people adorned in the same manner. Then only are priests fit to appear before the Lord, and to minister for the profit of the people, when their lives are dignified with goodness. They must ever remember that they are God's priests, and should therefore wear the livery of their Lord, which is holiness: they are not only to have righteousness, but to bc clothed with it, so that upon every part of them righteousness shall be conspicuous. Whoever looks upon God's servants should see holiness if they see nothing else. Now, this righteousness of the ministers of the temple is prayed for in connection with the presence of the Lord; and this instructs us that holiness is only to be found among those who commune with God, and only comes to them through his visitation of their spirits. God will dwell among a holy people; and on the other hand, where God is the people become holy. And let thy saints shout for joy. Holiness and happiness go together; where the one is found, the other ought never to be far away. Holy persons have a right to great and demonstrative joy: they may shout because of it. Since they are saints, and thy saints, and thou hast come to dwell with them, O Lord, thou hast made it their duty to rejoice, and to let others know of their joy. The sentence, while it may read as a permit, is also a precept: saints are commanded to rejoice in the Lord. Happy religion which makes it a duty to be glad! Where righteousness is the clothing, joy may well be the occupation.

(first clause). The chief badge and cognizance of the Lord's minister is the true doctrine of justification and obedience of faith in a holy conversation: Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness. —David Dickson.

Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness.

Holiness on the head,

Light and perfections on the breast,

Harmonious bells below, raising the dead

To lead them unto life and rest.

Thus are true Aarons drear, etc. —George Herbert, 1593-1633.

Saints. If the very names given by God's prophets to his people are such as saints, gracious ones, merciful ones, surely his professed people ought to see to it that they are not cruel, not tender, or unholy. —William Swan Plumer.

Let us notice the prayer, Ps 132:9, with the answer, Ps 132:16. The prayer asks in behalf of the priests righteousness: the answer is, "I will clothe her priests with salvation", i.e., with what shows forth God's gracious character. Caring for the interest of God, the worshipper finds his own interest fully cared for. And now, after spreading the Lord's pledged word (Ps 132:11-12) before him, the worshipper hears the Lord himself utter the reply, q.d., "I will do all that has been sought." —A. A. Bonar.

Let us notice the prayer, Ps 132:9, with the answer, Ps 132:16. The prayer asks in behalf of the priests righteousness: the answer is, "I will clothe her priests with salvation", i.e., with what shows forth God's gracious character. Caring for the interest of God, the worshipper finds his own interest fully cared for. And now, after spreading the Lord's pledged word (Ps 132:11-12) before him, the worshipper hears the Lord himself utter the reply, q.d., "I will do all that has been sought." —A. A. Bonar.

For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. King Solomon was praying, and here the people pray for him that his face may not be turned away, or that he may not be refused an audience. It is a dreadful thing to have our face turned away from God, or to have his face turned away from us. If we are anointed of the Spirit the Lord will look upon us with favour. Specially is this true of Him who represents us, and is on our behalf the Christ —the truly anointed of the Lord. Jesus is both our David and God's anointed; in him is found in fulness that which David received in measure. For his sake all those who are anointed in him are accepted. God blessed Solomon and succeeding kings, for David's sake; and he will bless us for Jesus' sake. How condescending was the Son of the Highest to take upon himself the form of a servant, to be anointed for us, and to go in before the mercyseat to plead on our behalf! The Psalm sings of the ark, and it may well remind us of the going in of the anointed priest within the veil: all depended upon his acceptance, and therefore well do the people pray, "Turn not away the face of thine anointed." Thus, in these three verses, we have a prayer for the temple, the ark, the priests, the Levites, the people, and the king: in each petition there is a fulness of meaning well worthy of careful thought. We cannot plead too much in detail; the fault of most prayers is their indefiniteness. In God's house and worship everything needs a blessing, and every person connected therewith needs it continually. As David vowed and prayed when he was minded to house the ark, so now the prayer is continued when the temple is consecrated, and the Lord deigns to fill it with his glory. We shall never have done praying till we have done needing.

For thy servant David's sake. Solomon's plea for the divine blessing to rest upon him as king, "For thy servant David's sake", was justified in its use by God: Isa 37:35. It gives no countenance to the idea of intercession on the part of deceased saints; for it is not a prayer to David, but a pleading with God for the sake of David. Nor does it support the idea of works of supererogation on the part of David; it only implies a special divine delight in David, on account of which God was pleased to honour David's name during succeeding generations; and if the delight itself is pure grace, the expression of it, in any way, must be grace. Nor does it even give countenance to the idea that God's converting and saving grace may be expected by any man because his parents or ancestors were delighted in by God; for a plea of this character is in Scripture strictly confined to two instances, Abraham and David, with both of whom a special covenant was made, including their descendants, and it was just this covenant that authorised the use of the plea by those who by promise were specially interested, and by none others, and for the ends contemplated by the covenant. But it did prefigure the great Christian plea, "For Christ Jesus' sake"; just as God's selection of individual men and making them centres of revelation and religion, in the old time; prefigured "The man Christ Jesus" as the centre and basis of religion for all time. Hence in the plea, "For Christ's sake", the old pleas referred to are abolished, as the Jewish ritual is abolished. Christ bids us use His name: Joh 16:13-14,20, etc. To believe the false notions mentioned above, or to trust in any other name for divine, gracious favour, is to dishonour the name of Christ. "For Christ's sake" is effective on account of the great covenant, the merits of Christ, and his session in heaven. —John Field (of Sevenoaks), 1883.

For thy servant David's sake. The frequency with which God is urged to hear and answer prayer for David's sake (1Ki 11:12-13 15:4 2Ki 8:19, etc.), is not to be explained by making David mean the promise to David, nor from the personal favour of which he was the object, but for his historical position as the great theocratic model, in whom it pleased God that the old economy should reach its culminating point, and who is always held up as the type and representative of the Messiah, so that all the intervening kings are mere connecting links, and their reigns mere repetitions and continuations of the reign of David, with more or less resemblance as they happened to be good or bad. Hence the frequency with which his name appears in the later Scriptures, compared with even the last of his successors, and the otherwise inexplicable transfer of that name to the Messiah himself. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

For thy servant David's sake. When Sennacherib's army lay around Jerusalem besieging it, God brought deliverance for Israel partly out of regard to the prayer of the devout Hezekiah, but partly also out of respect for the pious memory of David, the hero king, the man after God's own heart. The message sent through Isaiah to the king concluded thus: "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake": 2Ki 19:32-34. What a respect is shown to David's name by its being thus put on a level with God! Mine own sake, and David's sake. —Alexander Balmain Bruce, in "The Galilean Gospel," 1882.

Turn not away the face, etc. As if in displeasure, or in forgetfulness. —Albert Barnes.

Thine anointed. What is meant by "thine anointed"? Is it David himself; or some definite king among his merely human descendants; or does it apply to each or any of them as they come into office to bear the responsibilities of this line of anointed kings? I incline to the latter construction, under which the petition is applicable to any one or to all the anointed successors of David. For David's sake let every one of them be admitted to free audience before thee, and his prayer be evermore availing. The context contemplates a long line of kings descended from David. It was pertinent to make them all the subjects of this prayer. —Henry Cowles.

The LORD hath sworn. The most potent weapon with God is his own word. They remind him, therefore, as did Ethan in Ps 89:20, etc., of the solemn words which he had spoken by Nathan, and which must at that time have been still fresh in the memory of all. Solomon, too, made mention of those glorious words of comfort in his prayer at the dedication of the temple. —Augustus F. Theluck.

Verses 11-12. This Psalm is one of those fifteen which are called Psalms of Degrees; of which title whatsoever reason can be given fitting the rest, surely if we consider the argument of this, it may well import the excellency thereof, and why? It is nothing else but a sacred emulation, wherein God and a king contend; the king in piety, God in bounty. The king declares himself to be a most eminent pattern of zeal, and God himself to be a most magnificent rewarder of his servants. The king debars himself of all worldly content, while he is busily providing to entertain God; and God, who fills heaven and earth, vouchsafes to lodge in that place which was provided by the king. The king presents his supplication not only for himself, but also for his charge, the priests, the people; and God restrains not his blessing to the king, but also at his suit enlargeth it to church and commonweal. Finally, the king bindeth himself to make good his duty with a votive oath, and God stipulates again with an oath that which he promised both to king and kingdom: to the kingdom in the words that follow; but to the king in those that I have now read to you. This speech, then, is directed unto the king, unto David; but it containeth a blessing which redounds unto his issue, "the fruit of his body." This blessing is no less than a royal succession in the throne of David: David's sons shall inherit it, but it is God that states them in it. They shall sit, but I will set them, yea, so set them that they shall never fall; they shall sit for ever; the succession shall be perpetual. And hitherto the promise runs absolute: it is qualified in that which followeth. The king was busy to build God's house; and see how God answers him, promising the building of the king's house! God requites a building with a building. There is a very apt illusion in the word, upon which the son of Syrach also plays, when he saith, that children and the building of a city make a perpetual name; how much more if they be a royal offspring, that are destined to sit upon a throne? And God promises David sons for this honourable end —"to sit upon his throne." —Arthur Lake, —1626.

If thy children will keep my covenant, etc. Lest David's sons, if they be left without law, should live without care, they must know that the succession shall be perpetual; but the promise is conditional; if David's sons conform themselves to God, "if they keep my covenant", whereof they cannot pretend ignorance. And they have an authentic record: the record, "my testimonies"; authentic, "I myself will teach them." You see the king's blessing, it is rely great; but lest the promise thereof be thought too good to be true, God secures the king with a most unchangeable warrant. The warrant is his oath, "The Lord sware"; and this warrant is, 1. Unchangeable, because sincere; he swore in truth. 2. Stable, he will not turn from it. And what could king David desire more for his own house than a promise of such a blessing, and such a warrant of that promise? Yes he might, and no doubt he did desire more; and God also intended to him more than the letter of this promise doth express, even the accomplishment of the truth whereof this was but a type. And what is that? The establishment of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. —Arthur Lake.

That I shall teach them. Here is to be noted that he addeth, "which I will teach them"; for he will be the teacher and will be heard. He wills not that church councils should be heard, or such as teach that which he hath not taught...God giveth no authority unto man above the word. So should he set man, that is to say, dust and dung, above himself; for what is the word, but God himself? This word they that honour, obey, and keep, are the true church indeed, be they never so contemptible in the world; but they which do not, are the church of Satan, and accursed of God. And this is the cause why it is expressly set down in the text, "The testimonies which I will teach them." For so will God use the ministry of teachers and pastors in the church, that he notwithstanding will be their chief Pastor, and all other ministers and pastors whatsoever, yea, the church itself, shall be ruled and governed by the word. —Martin Luther.

Their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. As if he had said, this promise as touching Christ will I accomplish, and will undoubtedly establish the throne unto my servant David; but do not ye, which in the meantime sit on this throne, and govern this kingdom, presume upon the promise, and think that you cannot err, or that I will wink at your errors, and not rather condemn and severely punish them. Therefore either govern your kingdom according to my word, or else I will root you out and destroy you for ever. This promise he now amplifies, and setteth forth more at large. —Martin Luther.

For the LORD hath chosen Zion, etc. The Lord's pitching upon any place to dwell there cometh not of the worthiness of the place, or persons, but from God's good pleasure alone. The Lord having chosen his church, resteth in his love to her: he smelleth a sweet savour of Christ, and this maketh his seat among his people steadfast. —David Dickson.

For the LORD hath chosen Zion. Here, of a singular purpose, he useth the same word which Moses used (De 16:6): "As the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in." For at the beginning there was no certain place appointed wherein the tabernacle should remain; but it wandered, not only from place to place, but also from tribe to tribe, as Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, etc. Moreover, by the word, "hath chosen", he overthroweth all kinds of worship and religion of men's own devising and choosing, whereof there was an infinite number among the Jews. Election or choice belongeth not unto us; but we must yield obedience to the voice of the Lord. Else shall that happen unto us which Jeremiah threatens: "That they have chosen will I reject." These things destroy and confound the inventions, the devices and devotions, the false and counterfeit religions, which we have seen in the papacy... God is not served but when that is done which he hath commanded. Wherefore election or choice pertaineth not to us, so that what God hath commanded, that we must do. —Martin Luther.

This is my rest for ever. Of the Christian church we may affirm with undoubted certainty, that it is God's rest for ever: after this dispensation of his will, there will never succeed another; Christianity closes and completes the Divine communication from God to man; nothing greater, nothing better can or will be imparted to him on this side eternity; and even in heaven itself we shall, through an everlasting duration, be employed in contemplating and adoring the riches of that grace, the brightest glories of which have been realized in the consummations of Calvary, the ascension of the Messiah, the breaking down of all national peculiarity, and the gift and mission of the Divine Spirit. Let the argument of the apostle to the Hebrews be fully weighed, and the conclusion of every mind must be, that God has "removed those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain:" Heb 12:27. —John Morison, in "An Exposition of the Book of Psalms," 1829.

This is my rest for ever. The heart of the saints is the dwelling place of God. He rests in those who rest in him. He rests when he causes us to rest. —Pasquier Quesnel.

Dwell. The word translated "dwell" means originally to sit, and especially to sit enthroned, so that this idea would be necessarily suggested with the other to a Hebrew reader. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

Verses 14-18. Now that he might apparently see how near the Lord is to all them that call upon him in faithfulness and truth, he waiteth not long for an answer, but carries it away with him before he departs. For to David's petition, "Return, O LORD, unto thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength"; God's answer is this, —"This shall be my resting place, here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and will satisfy her poor with bread." To David's petition, "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints sing with joyfulness", God's answer is this: "I will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall rejoice and sing." Lastly, to David's petition, "For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed", God's answer is this: "There will I make the horn of David to flourish: I have ordained a light for mine anointed. As for his enemies, I will clothe them with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish." As if he should have said, —Turn away the face of mine anointed Nay, that will I never do; I will indeed turn away the face of the enemies of mine anointed; their face shall be covered with confusion, and clothed with shame. But contrariwise, I have ordained a light for mine anointed. He shall even have a light in his face and a crown upon his head. "As for his enemies, I will clothe them with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish." —Thomas Playfere, 1633.

I will abundantly bless her provision, etc. The provision of Zion, the church of God, the word and ordinances, of which Christ is the sum and substance; the gospel is milk for babes, and meat for strong men; the ordinances are a feast of fat things; Christ's flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed; the whole provision is spiritual, savoury, salutary, strengthening, satisfying, and nourishing, when the Lord blesses it; as he does to those who hunger and thirst after it, and feed upon it by faith; so that their souls grow thereby, and they become fat and flourishing; grace increases in them, and they are fruitful in every good work; and this the Lord promises to do abundantly, in a very large way and manner; or certainly, for it is, in the original text, "in blessing I will bless", that is, will surely bless, as this phrase is sometimes rendered. I will satisfy her poor with bread. Zion has her poor; persons may be poor and yet belong to Zion, belong to Zion and yet be poor; there are poor in all the churches of Christ: our Lord told his disciples that they had the poor, and might expect to have them, always with them; and particular directions are given to take care of Zion's poor under the gospel dispensation, that they may not want bread in a literal sense: though by the poor are chiefly designed the Lord's afflicted and distressed ones; or those who in a spiritual sense are poor, sensible of their spiritual poverty, and seeking after the true riches; or are poor in spirit, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs; these the Lord promises to satisfy, to fill them to the full with the bread of the gospel, made of the finest of the wheat, of which there is enough and to spare in his house; and with Christ the bread of life, of which those that eat shall never die, but live for ever. —John Gill.

Her provision; I will bless, I will bless. The repetition of the verb may express either certainty or fulness. I will surely bless, or I will bless abundantly. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

I will abundantly bless her provision. Believe it, a saint hath rare fare, gallant cheer, and rich diet, and all at free cost. He is feasted all the day long; he is brought oft into the banqueting house, and hath the rarest, the costliest, the most wholesome diet, that which is most hearty and strengthening, which is most dainty and pleasant, and the greatest variety, and nothing is wanting that may make his state happy, except a full enjoyment of glory itself. The Lord gives him all the experiences of his power and goodness to his Church in former ages to feed his hopes upon; nay, many choice providences, many of prayer, many foretastes of glory, many ordinances, especially that great one the Lord's Supper, at which Christ and all his benefits are served up in a royal dish to refresh and feast the faith, hope, and love of the saints. And that which sweetens all this —he knows that all this is but a little to what he shall shortly live upon when he comes to the marriage supper; then he shall always be feasted and never surfeited. And beside all this, he hath the sweet and refreshing incomes of the Spirit, filling him with such true pleasure, that he can easily spare the most sumptuous banquet, the noblest feast, and highest worldly delights, as infinitely short of one hour's treatment in his Friend's chamber. And, if this be his entertainment in the inn, what shall he have at the court? If this heavenly manna be his food in the wilderness, at what rate is he like to live when he comes into Canaan? If this be the provision of the way, what is that of the country? —John Janeway, about 1670.

I will satisfy her poor with bread. Christ is a satisfying good. A wooden loaf, a silver loaf, a golden loaf will not satisfy a hungry man; the man must have bread. The dainties and dignities of the world, the grandeur and glory of the world, the plenty and prosperity of the world, the puff and popularity of the world, will not satisfy a soul sailing by the gates of hell, and crying out of the depths; it must be a Christ. "Children, or I die", was the cry of the woman; a Christ, or I die —a Christ, or I am damned, is the doleful ditty and doleful dialect of a despairing or desponding soul. "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied therewith; nor he that loveth abundance with increase:" Ec 5:10. It is a good observation, that the world is round, but the heart of man is triangular. Now, all the globe of the world will not fill the triangular heart of man. What of the world and in the world can give quietness, when Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, goes down upon the soul? The heart is a three square, and nothing but a trinity in unity and a unity in trinity will satisfy this. Not riches, nor relations, nor barns, nor bags, will satisfy a convinced and deserted soul. This person can say concerning his bags as a great person upon a sick, if not a dying, bed, did concerning his bags, —Away, and away for ever. Though there be bag upon bag, yet they are altogether insignificant in a dying hour; these bags, they are but as so many ciphers before a figure. This is the cry of despairing and desponding souls: "O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days:" Ps 90:14. —Richard Mayhew, 1679.

I will satisfy her poor with bread. Dainties I will not promise them; a sufficiency, but not, a superfluity:poor they may be, but not destitute; bread they shall have, and of that God's plenty, as they say; enough to bring them to their Father's house, "where there is bread enough." Let not, therefore, the poor Israelite fear to bring his offerings, or to disfurnish himself for God's worship, etc. —John Trapp.

I will clothe her priests with salvation. Their salvation shall be evident and conspicuous, just as a garment is. —Aben Ezra.

God's presence is an earnest of all good; for all this follows upon "here will I dwell." By it he giveth meat to the hungry, and comfort to the poor, even the Bread of Life to the believing and repenting soul; by it he himself is the sanctification of his priests, and his righteousness and salvation is their most glorious vesture; and by his presence he maketh his elect ever glad, filling their hearts with joy and their mouths with songs. —J. W. Burgon.

Her saints shall shout aloud for joy. It would astonish and amuse a European stranger to hear these natives sing. They have not the least idea either of harmony or melody; noise is what they best understand, and he that sings the loudest is considered to sing the best. I have occasionally remonstrated with them on the subject; but the reply I once received silenced me for ever after. "Sing softly, brother", I said to one of the principal members. "Sing softly!" he replied, "is it you, our father, who tells us to sing softly? Did you ever hear us sing the praises of our Hindu gods? how we threw our heads backward, and with all our might shouted out the praises of those who are no gods I and now do you tell us to whisper the praises of Jesus? No, sir, we cannot —we must express in loud tones our gratitude to him who loved us, and died for us!" And so they continued to sing with all their might, and without further remonstrance. —G. Gogerly, in "The Pioneers: a Narrative of the Bengal Mission," 1870.

There will I make the horn of David to bud, etc. A metaphor taken from those goodly creatures, as stags, and such like; whose chiefest beauty and strength consisteth in their horns, especially when they bud and branch abroad. —Thomas Playfere.

The horn of David. This image of a horn is frequent in the Old Testament...The explanation must be found neither in the horns of the altar on which criminals sought to lay hold, nor in the horns with which they ornamented their helmets; the figure is taken from the horns of the bull, in which the power of this animal resides. It is a natural image among an agricultural people...Just as the strength of the animal is concentrated in its horn, so all the delivering power granted to the family of David for the advantage of the people will be concentrated in the Messiah. —F. Godet, in "A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke," 1875.

Make the horn to bud. In the beginning of the month of March the common stag, or red deer, is lurking in the sequestered spots of his forest home, harmless as his mate, and as timorous. Soon a pair of prominences make their appearance on his forehead, covered with a velvety skin. In a few days these little prominences have attained some length, and give the first indication of their true form. Grasp one of these in the hand and it will be found burning hot to the touch, for the blood runs fiercely through the velvety skin, depositing at every touch a minute portion of bony matter. More and more rapidly grow the horns, the carotid arteries enlarging in order to supply a sufficiency of nourishment, and in the short period of ten weeks the enormous mass of bony matter has been completed. Such a process is almost, if not entirely, without parallel in the history of the animal kingdom. —J. G. Wood, in "The Illustrated Natural History," 1861.

The horn. My friend, Mr. Graham, of Damascus, says, concerning the horns worn by eastern women, "This head dress is of dough, tin, silver, or gold, according to the wealth of the different classes. The rank is also indicated by the length of it. The nobler the lady, the longer the horn. Some of them are more than an English yard." I procured at Damascus an ancient gem, representing a man wearing the horn. In the present day, its use is confined to the women. —John Wilson, in "The Lands of the Bible," 1847.

I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. This clause contains an allusion to the law, which cannot be preserved in any version. The word translated "lamp" is used to designate the several burners of the golden candlestick (Ex 25:37 35:14 37:23 39:87), and the verb here joined with it is the one applied to the ordering or tending of the sacred lights by the priests (Ex 27:21 Le 27:3). The meaning of the whole verse is, that the promise of old made to David and to Zion should be yet fulfilled, however dark and inauspicious present appearances. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. We remark,

1. The designation given unto Christ by God his Father; he is "mine anointed." Though he be despised and rejected of men; though an unbelieving world see no form or comeliness in him, why he should be desired, yet I own him, and challenge him as mine Anointed, the Prophet, Priest, and King of my church. "I have found David my servant: with my holy oil have I anointed him: with whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him": Ps 89:20-21.

2. The great means of God's appointment for manifesting the glory of Christ to a lost world; he has provided "a lamp" for his Anointed. The use of a lamp is to give light to people in the darkness of the night; so the word of God, particularly the gospel, is a light shining in a dark place, until the day of glory dawn, when the Lord God and the Lamb will be the light of the ransomed for endless evermore.

3. The authority by which this lamp is lighted and carried through this dark world; it is "ordained" of God; and by his commandment it is that we preach and spread the light of the gospel (Mr 16:15,20). —Ebenezer Erskine, 1680 —.

I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. That is, I have ordained prosperity and blessings for him; blessings upon his person, and especially the blessing of posterity. Children are as a lamp or candle in their father's house, making the name of their ancestors conspicuous; hence in Scripture a Child given to succeed his father is called a lamp. When God by Ahijah the prophet told Jeroboam that God would take the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon's son, and give it unto him, even ten tribes; he yet adds (1Ki 11:86), "And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light (lamp or candle) alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there." And again (1Ki 15:4), when Abijam the son of Rehoboam proved wicked, the text saith, "Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp (or candle) in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him." —Joseph Caryl.

Verses 17-18. God having chosen David's family, he here promises to bless that also with suitable blessings.

1. Growing power: "There (in Zion) will I make the horn of David to bud." The royal dignity should increase more and more, and constant additions be made to the lustre of it. Christ is the "horn of salvation", noting a plentiful and powerful salvation, which God hath raised up and made to bud "in the house of his servant David." David had promised to use his power for God's glory, to cut off the horns of the wicked, and to exalt the horns of the righteous (Ps 75:10); and in recompense for it, God here promises to make his horn to bud; for to them that have power and use it well, more shall be given.

2. Lasting honour: "I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed." Thou wilt "light my candle" (Ps 18:28): that lamp is likely to burn brightly which God ordains. A lamp is a successor; for when a lamp is almost out, another may be lighted by it: it is a succession; for by this means David shall not want a man to stand before God. Christ is the lamp and the light of the world.

3. Complete victory. "His enemies", that have formed designs against him, "will I clothe with shame", when they shall see their designs baffled. Let the enemies of all good governors expect to be clothed with shame, and especially the enemies of the Lord Jesus and his government, who shall rise in the last great day "to everlasting shame and contempt."

4. Universal prosperity: "Upon himself shall his crown flourish", i.e., his government shall be more and more his honour. This was to have its full accomplishment in Christ Jesus, whose crown of honour and power shall never fade, nor the flowers of it wither. The crowns of earthly princes "endure not to all generations" (Pr 27:24); but Christ's crown shall endure to all eternity, and the crowns reserved for his faithful subjects are such as "fade not away." —Matthew Henry.

His enemies will I clothe with shame. That is, shame shall so inseparably cover them, that as wheresoever a man goeth, he carrieth his clothes with him; so wheresoever they go they shall carry their shame with them. And that which is strangest of all, they which are ashamed use to clothe or cover their shame, and then think themselves well enough; but David's enemies shall be so ashamed, that even the very covering of their shame shall be a discovering of it; and the clothing or cloaking of their ignominy shall be nothing else but a girding of it more closely and more inseparably unto them. —Thomas Playfere.

Upon himself shall the crown flourish. This idea seems to be taken from the nature of the ancient crowns bestowed upon conquerors. From the earliest periods of history, the laurel, olive, ivy, etc., furnished crowns to adorn the heads of heroes, who had conquered in the field of battle, gained the prize in the race, or performed some other important service to the public. These were the dear bought rewards of the most heroic exploits of antiquity. This sets the propriety of the phrase in full view. The idea of a crown of gold and jewels flourishing, is at least unnatural; whereas, flourishing is natural to laurels, oaks, etc. These were put upon the heads of the victors ill full verdure, and their merit seemed to make them flourish on their heads, in fresher green. The literal crown which Jesus wore was also of the vegetable kind, and the thorn of sorrow never flourished in such rigour as on his head. Now he has got the crown of life, which shall not fade away, like the perishing verdure of the crowns of other heroes. It shall flourish for ever, with all the rigour of immortality, and bring forth all the olive fruits of peace for his people. Its branches shall spread, and furnish crowns for all the victors in the spiritual warfare. —Alexander Pirie, —1804.

1. The Lord remembers Jesus, our David: he loves him, he delights in him, he is with him.

2. In that memory his griefs have a prominent place —"all his afflictions."

3. Yet the Lord would be put in remembrance by his people.

Verses 1-2. Concerning his people,

1. The Lord remembers, a) Their persons. b) Their afflictions. c) Their vows.

2. The Lord remembers them, a) To accept them. b) To sympathize with them. c) To assist them.

Verses 1-2.

1. God remembers his people, each one: "Remember David." The Spirit maketh intercession within us according to the will of God.

2. He remembers their afflictions: "David and all his afflictions." "I know thy works and thy tribulation."

3. He remembers their vows, especially, a) Those which relate to his service. b) Those which are solemnly made. c) Those which are faithfully performed. —G. R.

Verses 1-5. Notice,

1. How painfully David felt what he conceived to be a dishonouring of God, which he thought he might be able to remedy. Consider "his afflictions", —because the ark dwelt within curtains, while he himself dwelt in a house of cedar: 2Sa 7:2.

2. Consider, a) Its singularity. Most find affliction in personal losses; very few suffer from a cause like this. b) The little sympathy such a feeling meets with from the most of men. "If God means to convert the heathen, he can do it without you, young man", was said to Dr., then Mr. Carey, when heathenism was an affliction to him. c) Its fittingness to a really God fearing man. d) Its pleasingness to God: 1Sa 2:30.

2. How earnestly he set himself to remedy the evil he deplored: "He sware", etc. There cannot be the least doubt that he would have foregone the enjoyment of temporal luxuries until he had accomplished the work dear to his heart, if he had been permitted of God. Remark, a) There is little zeal for God's honour when self denial is not exercised for the sake of his cause. b) Were a like zeal generally shown by God's people, there would be more givers and more liberal gifts; more workers, and the work more heartily and better done. c) It would be well to astonish the world, and deserve the commendations of the righteous by becoming enthusiasts for the honour of God. —J. F.

Verses 3-5.

1. We should desire a habitation for God more than for ourselves. God should have the best of everything. "See, now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains."

2. We should be guided by the house of God in seeking a house for ourselves: "Surely I will not come", etc.

3. We should labour for the prosperity of God's house even more than of our own. Nothing should make sleep more sweet to us than when the church of God prospers; nothing keep us more awake than when it declines: "I will not give sleep", etc. (Ps 132:4); "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?" —G. R.

Something to live for —to find fresh habitations for God.

1. The Condescension implied: God with us.

2. The Districts explored: hearts, homes, "dark places of the earth."

3. The Royalty of the Work. It makes King David busy, and is labour worthy of a king. —W. B. H.

"A place for the LORD." In the heart, the home, the assembly, the life. Everywhere we must find or make a place for the Lord.

"The mighty God of Jacob."

1. Mighty, and therefore he joined heaven and earth at Bethel.

2. Mighty, and therefore brought Jacob back from Mesopotamia.

3. Mighty, and yet wrestled with him at Jabbok.

4. Mighty, and yet allowed him to be afflicted.

5. Mighty, and therefore gave him full deliverance.

Verses 6-7. We shall use this for practical purposes. A soul longing to meet with God. God has appointed a meeting place.

1. We know what it is. A mercy seat, a throne of grace, a place of revealed glory. Within it the law preserved. Heavenly food —pot of manna. Holy rule —Aaron's rod.

2. We desire to find it. Intensely. Immediately. Reverently. Longing to receive it.

3. We heard of it. In our young days. We almost forget where. From ministers, from holy men, from those who loved us.

4. We found it. Where we least expected it. In a despised place. In a lonely place. Where we lost ourselves. Very near us —where we hid like Adam among the trees.

5. We will go. To God in Christ. For all he gives. To dwell with him. To learn of him.

6. We will worship. Humbly. Solemnly. Gratefully. Preparing for heaven.

1. The Place: "His tabernacles." a) Built for God. b) Accepted by God: present everywhere, he is especially present here.

2. The Attendance: "We will go", etc. There God is present to meet us, and there we should be present to meet him.

3. The Design: a) For adoration. b) For self consecration: "We will worship at his footstool." —G. R.

Verses 8-9.

1. The Presence of God desired — a) That it may be signally manifested: "Arise" and enter. b) That it may be gracious: "Thou and the ark" —that he may be present on the mercyseat. c) That it may be felt: accompanied with power: "The ark of thy strength." d) That it may be abiding: "Arise into thy rest."

2. The reasons for this desire. a) With respect to the priests or ministers: "Let thy priests", etc.: not their own righteousness, but as a clothing: let them speak of "garments of salvation" and "robes of righteousness." b) With respect to the worshippers: "And let thy saints", etc. Let ministers preach the gift of righteousness; not that which grows out of man's nature, but that which is "unto all and upon all them that believe", and saints will shout for joy. —G. R.

Consider,

1. The importance of a righteous ministry in the church.

2. The connection between such a ministry and a joyous people.

3. The dependence of both on the gracious working of God. —J. F.

(second clause).

1. Saints.

2. Shouting.

3. Explaining —"for joy."

4. Encouraging —"Let thy saints shout."

(second clause). —The connection between holiness and joy.

The Spiritual Vestry.

1. The Vestments: a) Righteousness; for which the costliest stole is a poor substitute. b) Salvation: learning, oratory, etc., of small account in comparison.

2. The Procuring of the vestments: a) Must be from God. b) Earnest prayer should constantly arise from all saints.

3. The Robing: a) By God's own hand! b) Their beauty and power who are so invested. c) The persons are "thy priests." —W. B. H.

The Spiritual Vestry.

1. The Vestments: a) Righteousness; for which the costliest stole is a poor substitute. b) Salvation: learning, oratory, etc., of small account in comparison.

2. The Procuring of the vestments: a) Must be from God. b) Earnest prayer should constantly arise from all saints.

3. The Robing: a) By God's own hand! b) Their beauty and power who are so invested. c) The persons are "thy priests." —W. B. H.

1. Priests and Saints.

2. Vestments.

3. "Hymns Ancient and Modern."

4. The Real Presence: God giving the garments and the joy.

1. Priests and Saints.

2. Vestments.

3. "Hymns Ancient and Modern."

4. The Real Presence: God giving the garments and the joy.

1. An evil to be deprecated: "Turn not away the face" —so that he cannot see thee, or be seen of thee, or accepted, or allowed to hope.

2. A plea to be employed, "for thy servant David's sake" —thy covenant with him, his zeal, his consecration, his afflictions, his service. Good gospel pleading, such as may be used on many occasions.

1. The divine oath.

2. Its eternal stability.

3. The everlasting Kingship.

(middle clause). —Our confidence: "He will not turn from it." He is not a changing God. He foreknew everything. He is able to carry out his purpose. His honour is bound up in it. His oath can never be broken.

Family favour may be perpetual, but the conditions must be observed.

1. Sovereign choice.

2. Condescending indwelling.

3. Eternal rest.

4. Gracious reason —"I have desired it."

1. God finding rest in his church. a) The three persons honoured. b) The divine nature exercised. c) Eternal purposes fulfilled. d) Almighty energies rewarded. e) Tremendous sacrifices remembered. f) Glorious attributes extolled. g) Dearest relationships indulged.

2. This rest enduring for ever. a) There will always be a church. b) That church will always be such as God can rest in. c) That church will therefore be secure on earth. d) That church will be glorified eternally in heaven.

1. Blessed provision.

2. Satisfied people —"satisfy her poor."

3. Glorified God —"I will."

4. Happy place —Zion.

Verse 16, 18. Two forms of clothing: salvation and shame, prepared for his priests and Iris enemies. Which will you wear?

A Lamp ordained for God's Anointed. Being the Substance of Two Sermons, by Ebenezer Erskine. Works, Vol. 3, pp. 3-41.

Verses 17-18.

1. The budding horn of growing power.

2. The perpetual lamp of constant brightness.

3. The sordid array of defeated foes.

4. The unfading wreath of glorious sovereignty.

1. His enemies clothed. a) Who are they? The openly profane. The moral but irreligious. The self righteous. The hypocritical. b) How clothed with shame? In repentance, in disappointment, in remorse, in destruction. Sin detected. Self defeated. Hopes scattered. c) Who clothes them The Lord. He will shame them thoroughly.

2. Himself crowned. a) His crown: his dominion and glory. b) Its flourishing. Glory extending. Subjects increasing. Wealth growing. Foes fearing, etc.

(last clause). The Lord Jesus himself the source, sustenance, and centre of the prosperity of his kingdom.

WORK UPON THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND PSALM

In "The Works of John Boys," 1626, folio, pp. 821-5, there is an Exposition of Psalm 132. This is a poor and lean performance.

The .132. Psalme. Lorde remember Dauid, &c.

This Psalme, The argument of the Psalme. whether it be Salomons (as it seemeth) or whether it be Dauids, it is a prayer for the kingdom & the Priesthood: for these two are the most principall giftes of God in this worlde: Wherefore they haue neede of prayer and the helpe of God, to defend them against the deuill, whose double title ye knowe, which Christ giueth vnto him in the Gospel of Iohn when he calleth him a lyer and a murtherer. For he resteth not, but busily laboureth & seeketh by all meanes possible, to replenish the world with lyes & murthers. Against these two policies and kingdoms of the deuill, God hath erected two other kingdoms, the politike state, and the priesthood, the one to fight against murther, and the other against false doctrine and heresies. So Dauid and all other Kinges and Princes in gouerning the common wealth, The end of the politike gouernment. ought to endeuor, that their subiectes may liue a peaceable and a quiet life, that mariages, the education of children, & other dueties perteining to howshold gouernment, may be mainteyned and defended against seditious, and wicked persons. The priesthoode is to this ende, The ende of ye priesthood. that children growing vp, may be brought to the kingdom of heauen: and the ministers of the Church are as Angells appoynted to defend the truth, that the kingdom of Satan the father of lyes, may be destroyed. These be the proper offices of the ministers of the Church and of the worde, which ministers haue bene alwayes in the world among the faithful, and haue kept continuall battaile against heretikes and the ministers of Satan. So the Patriarkes before the flood, fought against the Canaites or ofspring of Cain: after the flood against the Esauites, and others. The Prophets fought against the false prophetes, as their writinges doe testifie, [illegible: 1 page] [illegible: 1 page] and the Apostles likewise against the false apostles: for Satan ceaseth not: And besides this, the kingdom of Satan was alwaies the greater. For if ye cōsider the church, there were euer moe godles and infidels, then faythfull. So in the ciuill gouernment the greater part consisteth of those which are disobedient, which raise vp troubles, seditions and warres.

Wherfore, since the kingdom of Satan (if ye consider the number) is the greater: and moreouer, since both the politike state and the priesthood are such as farre exceede the power of man, & therfore can not be defended & mainteyned by our strength or policie: hereby we may see how necessary this prayer is, whereby Dauid desireth that they may prosper and continue. And here first of all marke the difference betwene Dauid and other Princes of the world. What ye Gentiles thought as touching the gouernment of Empires & kingdoms. Other Princes and rulers doe also vnderstand and see that common weales can not be preserued by mans power. Wherfore they sayd that he which should well & happily gouerne, had neede to be endued with some diuine and godly power. And albeit they were ignorant that these thinges are gouerned by God, yet they preferred fortune (for so they called the blessing of God, the cause whereof they did not know) before wisedom, power, iustice and all princely vertues. For where as iust men, for the most part be oppressed, and the vniust doe rule and reigne, therefore they thought that iustice is not the meane whereby kingdomes and common weales are preserued. For then Cicero should not haue bene oppressed, nor Antonius aduaunced to such power and authoritie. If by power kingdoms could be preserued, then should not Themistocles haue ouercome Xerxes. Likewise many notable Emperours lacked no wisedom nor industrie, and yet were they miserable notwithstanding. These examples and this experience caused the Gentiles to thinke that there was a certeyne diuine power in great Monarches and Emperours, to rule & gouerne their earthly power, wisedom and iustice, whereby they did so prosper vppon the earth, and this they called fortune.

Dauid knoweth that kingdoms are preserued by God alone. But here behold and consider Dauid. He also seeth that it is not in his power to preserue and vphold his kingdom, and yet doth he not thinke, that it is fortune which supporteth & vpholdeth kingdoms: for he beleueth that this perteyneth to God alone. Besides this, he beleueth (as ye shall heare) that God for his mercies sake will not reiect those that call vpon him. But the Gentiles knewe neither of these thinges. Moreouer, the same necessitie which moueth the Prince or the Magistrate to pray for the common welth, moueth him also to pray for the Priesthood and for the Church of God. So we see that this Psalme is a prayer for the people of the olde Testament, that God would preserue the kingdome and Priesthood, euen for his promises made vnto Dauid. It is likewise profitable for vs, and is of vs to be applied vnto our selues also, for that we in like maner haue our Dauid and our Euphrata, in the whiche we haue founde the Tabernacle or habitation of our God. The signification of the words here vsed, as of Dauid, Euphrata, the temple, the priesthood, are chaunged, but the thinges remaine. For the selfe same thinges doe remaine, and there is no more but the signification of the wordes to be chaunged. Now, like as they were in daunger as touching both the kingdom and the priesthood: so is our daunger great also in them both. Wherfore we may well sing with Dauid: Remember, &c.

Here I purpose simply to follow the sence and meaning of the letter, declaring howe this Psalme was vsed and applyed of that people. Afterwards it shall be easie for vs to apply the same to our owne time & age. Now, like as that was a double kingdome, that is to say, corporall and spirituall: so is the Psalme also diuided into two partes: For first it prayeth for the Church, and then for the politike state or the common wealth.

Verse. 1. Lord remember Dauid, with all his afflictions.

The history of the Kings doth declare, that Dauid being persecuted of Saul, suffered many and great afflictions. But why did Saul thus persecute Dauid? Because he was anoynted of Samuel to be king, whiles Saul was yet liuing. For hereof came the deadly persecutions, The Papists doe dreame that Salomō and the people did pray vnto God, yt he would heare them for Dauids sake, or at the intercession of Dauid, & thereby would stablish inuocation of Sainctes and praying to the deade. the hatred, sclaunders, reproches & all kindes of calamities which Dauid suffered. Now, whereas these troubles & afflictions of Dauid were mentioned in prayer and in the presence of God, either by his sonne Solomon or by the people, it was not done, as the Papistes thinke, to the ende that Dauid should pray for them: but they spake of Dauid in respect of the promises, & put God, as it were in remembrance of those promises by speaking of Dauid: as Paule also speaketh of Abraham. Wherfore the name of Dauid is not here to be taken absolutely, as though they spake of his person onely: for (as I said) they spake of him as hauing the promises, and clothed, as it were with the promises of God: so that here we must rather vnderstande the forme then the matter. The promise I call the forme, to teach & set forth the thing more plainly: and the matter I call Dauid him selfe, to whome the promises were made.

The name of Dauid includeth the promises, and therefore also it includeth mercie. This is then the sense and meaning of these wordes: O Lorde God, we pray vnto thee for the kingdom, not counting our selues worthy or by any meanes to haue deserued that we shoulde be heard: but (as Daniel saith): We present our supplications before thee, trusting in thy great and tender mercies, & in that which thou hast promised to Dauid: to witte, that our kingdom shall endure for euer. Thus he beginneth his prayer with a remembrance of Gods promises euen at the first entrance. This is a singular example for vs, that when we pray, we should appeare in the presence of God as miserable & wretched sinners, not trusting vpon our owne merite or worthines, but clothed, as ye would say, with his mercies and promises: not as he that bragged: I fast twise in a weeke: Luke. 18.12. but as he which said, Remember Lorde thy promises: For the promises of God are nothing else but mercies and compassions freely offered vnto vs in Christ.

Thus we see, that he speaketh not here of afflictions absolutely, but in respect of an other thing: for he vnderstandeth the afflictions which Dauid suffered for the promises: in the which afflictions he helde fast the promises and suffered them not to be wrested from him. The same promises did God likewise performe vnto Dauid. How he maketh mention of Dauids afflictions. Like as therefore (saith he) O lord, thou diddest preserue Dauid suffering all calamities and afflictions for thy words sake and trusting in thy word, so with like mercie preserue and saue vs trusting in thy promises, and performe that thou hast begunne in vs. For all thinges must be preferred to the promises: like as Moses also doth, which saith: Remember Abraham, Isaac, &c. For he doth not call vpon Abraham and Isaac, Places of the olde Testament which the Papists alleage for the inuocation of Saincts as the vnlearned Papistes dreame, but he alleageth the promises made vnto them as touching their seede and posteritie. Nowe, how could God be put in minde of these promises better, then by reciting those persons to whom God had made the promises? These promises the faithfull doe set against their sinnes and against their vnworthynes.

The idolatry of the Papistes. These thinges must be diligently taught, that we fall not into the absurd and foolish opinions of the Papistes, whose schoole diuinitie knoweth nothing of the promises of God: but whereas the promises are the chiefest part of the Scripture, they are vtterly ignorant thereof. The other part of the Scripture, which is the law, they so maime and mangle, that scarsely they set forth the one halfe thereof. And hereof it commeth that they expound such sentences as this is, so corruptly and peruersly, as if the Psalme should speake after this maner: Remember Dauid, how good and howe holy a man he was, and for his merites, for his holines stablish vnto vs the kingdom. But this sentence is plaine idolatrie: for it looketh to the actiue or working person only: As the Iewes thinke to obteyne their Messias by their owne merites. So the religion of the Iewes, the Turkes and the Papistes is all one: for they all trust to their owne workes and worthines. But we reiect the working person when we come into the presence of God, and looke vnto that person which is altogither passiue & clothed with the promises, that is to say, such a Dauid as bringeth and distributeth vnto vs, not his owne merites, but the promises giuen of God, and by Dauid firmely reteyned in all afflictions. Such a Dauid the Papistes doe not know: and because they know but onely the actiue & the working Dauid, therefore they make of him nothing else but a plaine idol. They know not that he is holy, as the whole Church is holy: not because it hath good workes and merites, but because it hath the promise of grace, which is the true bosome and wombe wherein the Church is caried, and all the faithfull.

Verse. 2. VVho sware vnto the Lord, and vowed vnto the God of Iacob, saying:

It seemeth that these wordes may not vnfitly be applyed vnto Salomon as the author of the Psalme. For thus he sayth in effect: Thou hast promised vnto Dauid the kingdom. Dauid againe promised to build vnto thee a temple. This vowe is now performed and accomplished: Do thou also now O Lord, performe thy promise, and be thou present in this place and with this people. Thus he offereth the temple and the Arke to the Lord in the faith of the promise made vnto Dauid concerning the light which should neuer be put out, and desireth that this promise may be kept. As touching this vowe of Dauid the Scripture speaketh nothing: The vowe of Dauid. but maketh mention of that talke and consultation only, which he had wt the Prophet Nathan. 2. Reg. 6. But the author of this Psalme goeth about to commend and set forth the good will of Dauid by the name of a vowe, because he had determined with him self thus to declare his thankfulnes and to testifie his faith in the promise of God.

Where the interpreters haue translated: the God of Iacob, it is in the hebrewe: Mightie in Iacob. the mightie in Iacob. Which name is sometimes attributed vnto the Angells, and sometimes it is also applied to other thinges wherein is great strength and fortitude, as to a lyon, an oxe and such like. But here it is a singular word of faith, signifying that God is the power and strength of his people: For onely faith ascribeth this vnto God. Reason and the flesh doe attribute more to riches and such other worldly helpes as it seeth and knoweth. But all such carnall helpes are very idolls, which deceiue men and draw them to perdition. But this is the strength and fortitude of the people, to haue God present with them. This strength and this power preserued the Iewish people, as a litle handfull, in the middes of all their enemies. Moreouer, this name is attributed vnto God, to this end, that we should vnderstand that it is he alone which giueth strength and victorie. So the Scripture sayth in an other place: Psal. 19. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lorde. Likewise Paule sayth: Ephes. 6.10. Be strong in the Lord & in the power of his might. For this power is eternall and deceiueth not. All other powers are not onely deceitfull, but they are also transitorie and continue but a moment.

Verse. 3. I will not enter into the Tabernacle of my house no[illegible: 1 letter] come vpon my pallet or bedde,

Verse. 4. Nor suffer myne eyes to sleepe nor myne eye lidde to slumber,

Verse. 5. Vntill I haue found out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the God of Iacob.

This plenty of words is vsed of ye Hebrewes when they would expresse any great or earnest desire. Notwithstanding all that is herein conteyned we may briefty comprise in these few wordes: I will not rest vntill I haue founde out an habitation for the Lorde. And here we neede not to answere that childish question, how this oth could stand, since that Dauid did not him selfe build the temple: And againe, if he had builded it, yet he must needes often times haue gone to his bedde & slept, before the worke could haue bene finished. For he speaketh here of the good will and earnest desire which Dauid had to finish this worke: and the good will or minde of the workeman comprehendeth all, as if the worke were fully accomplished. Therefore, where as Dauid (as it appeareth in the booke of the Kinges) thought it a dishonor vnto the Lord, that the Arke shoulde remayne in a Tabernacle couered with skinnes, when he him selfe did dwell in a house builded with Cedar trees, the maner of speech here vsed doth declare that great desire he had to take away this dishonor and reproche from God.

Moreouer, ye must here againe note, that when he speaketh of the Tabernacle of the mightie in Iacob, The tabernacle of God. the holy fathers did not simply seeke or worship God dwelling in heauen: but they sought him and worshipped him as he was to be comprehended & founde in one certeine place, and, as ye would say, clothed with a certeine person. For God of his owne nature is infinite, and therefore can not simply be comprehended by mans imaginations. Dauid therefore looketh vnto the word, whereby God did bind him selfe vnto the Arke, & when he went about to place the Arke in the temple, he called the temple the tabernacle or habitation of the God of Iacob. Reason can not see how God, which is infinite and vnsearchable, should be worshipped rather in this place then in any other. But the spirituall eyes of Dauid, Salomon and other holy men following the word, did seeke and worship God in that place onely, where, by his word he had reueiled, that he would be founde. They which offered in that place, were sayd to offer before the Lorde. They which worshipped there, were sayd to worship before ye Lord. So Adam, Abraham, Iacob had their Altars where God did reueile him selfe, and with a signe from heauen did testifie that he was there present with them. For seeing that no man can auoyd the sinne of Idolatrie, if God him selfe do not shew both the place where and the maner how he will be worshipped: therefore there was a certeine place limited vnto the faithfull, where God had promised that he woulde be present with them, woulde heare them, speake vnto them, &c. We nowe haue no corporall place: but all thinges are in Christ. Vppon him onely must our eyes and hartes be fired. He alone is the God of our worship: So that we may truely say: Without this man Iesus there is no God. Who so apprehendeth him by fayth, he it is that hath God in deede: but he that apprehendeth him not, hath no God.

Verse. 6. Loe, we heard of it in Ephrata, and founde it in the fieldes of the forest.

That is to say, the vowe of Dauid is nowe accomplished: For nowe God is sayd to dwell in this temple builded by Salomon, which is such a one, as shall not be caried into other places as it was afore. Sometimes it was in Gilgal, sometymes in Silo, and at the last in Gabaa. And where so euer the Arke was, there was God also: for the promise followed the Arke where so euer it was. Nowe (sayth he) the place where the temple is builded and the Arke shall rest, is stable and permanent: which if it be not verified of this place, it shall be verified of no place in the whole world.

But what meaneth it when he sayth in Ephrata? For we doe not any where reade, that the house of the Lord was in Ephrata, that is, in Bethleem. Although therefore this figure and maner of speech seemeth to be somewhat hard, yet certeyne it is, that by Ephrata is vnderstand the kingdom of Iuda, Ephrata signifieth the kingdom of Iuda. whereof Dauid being an Ephratite, was King and gouerner: So that it is all one to say, in Ephrata and in Ierusalem, to the which Dauid the Ephratite did translate the seate and throne of the King. Of the King therefore, which was an Ephratite, by a figure called Metonomia, Ierusalem is called Ephrata. Which maner of speech we likewise in the Dutch tongue doe oftentimes vse. As if I shoul[illegible: 1 letter] say: Saxonie did boldly and freely confesse Christ at August before the Emperour and the whole empire. Here by Saxonie is signified the noble Prince and worthy of perpetuall memorie in all Churches, Iohn the Elector of Saxonie, who was by birth a Saxon. This figure the Prophet vseth in this place, to the ende we should vnderstand that the temple is exalted & magnified, not because of Salomon which builded the temple, nor because of the people which resorted thither, but because of Dauid hauing the promise, and to whom the promise was made. For, (as I sayd before) the promise is that which principally must be considered in all things. This pomise alone therefore it is, which here he beholdeth, signifying that the temple is giuen for the promise sake, and not in respect of merites or deserts.

Where he addeth: The fieldes of the forest. In the fieldes of the forest, this is a repetition of that he said before. For the fields of the forest he calleth Ierusalem, as the Prophets oftentimes call it Libanus, because it is builded of the Ceders of Libanus: as though the trees & tymber of all Libanus were translated to Ierusalem. The former appellation therfore, where he calleth Ierusalem Ephrata, is taken of the person of Dauid, and this is taken of the matter wherof the temple was builded. Now, these kindes of speech serue to this end that we should knowe what an inestimable gift it is to haue a place where the word of God may be taught. For there the church, that is to say, the kingdom of God is preserued and maintained. Such a place (saith he) haue we here, where by the promise of God the temple is builded. For here we heare the word, here God speaketh vnto vs, here we pray, and here we doe all thinges which pertaine to the seruice and worship of God, here the deuill, with all his assaults, his subtilties, his furies and his lyes wherewith he goeth about to trouble and vexe the Church, and to hinder the glory of God, are ouercome.

Verse. 7. VVe wil enter into his tabernacle and worship before his footestoole.

These wordes doe plainly shew that he speaketh of Ierusalem: For he maketh rehearsall of those thinges which came to passe after Dauids time when the vow was fulfilled which he had vowed. This is therefore a voice of gratulation, containing also an exhortation. As if he should say: Since we haue a place for the word of God appointed and as[illegible: 1 letter]ured vnto vs by God him self, why doe we stay? why do we not go thither to heare the word, to pray, to giue thankes, to set forth the mercy and goodnes of the Lord? For these are in a maner the things which we must doe in the house of God & in the temple, To worship▪ To worship, signifieth a kind of gesture or motion of y• body which we are wont to vse when we pray, as to bowe our selues, to turne our face, and to lift vp our eyes vnto the Lord.

Before his footestoole, is as much to say, as before ye mercise at or the Arke, where God promised that he would dwell. Nowe, wheresoeuer the word is, there is also the footestoole, the habitation, the resting place, and the altar of God. Like as by the worde the Prophetes doe signifie that God is present: as contrarywise where the word is not, there God is not present, and so are we as sheepe in the desert without a shepeheard.

Verse. 8. Arise O Lord, to come into thy rest, thou and the arke of thy strength.

Here againe he calleth the place appoynted for the worde, the rest, the tabernacle, the habitation of the Lord, according to that saying of our Sauiour Christ: VVe will come vnto him & will dwell with him. Iohn. 14. And this is a prayer following vppon the former verses. As if he said: the temple is builded, and now we place the Arke therein. Arise therefore O Lord, and come to thy rest, that thou mayst dwell with vs. For this is thy rest, which wilte be worshipped in a certaine place and after a certaine maner, Wherfore diuerse kindes of worship and diuersitie of opinions after the inuentions of men, doe not please thee. Thou art in deede the God of heauen, and heauen is thy throne: but yet thou wilte be worshipped of vs. Thou wouldest haue vs to knowe that thou dwellest in this place, and that we shoulde seeke thee here and not elsewhere.

It seemeth an absurde and a foolish thinge in the hartes of the worldly wise, to bind God to this place, and to enclose him in this darke Sanctuary, as though he would be worshipped no where else. So the Gentiles rounde about, to whome the religion of the Iewes was knowne, were maruelously offended that the infinite and incomprehensible nature of God should thus be shut vppe in a corner. But God doth not onely contemn, but also condemne the imaginations of men, and commaundeth vs to thinke no otherwise of God, then he prescribeth vnto vs in his worde. VVhersoeuer (saith he) I shall put a memoriall of my name, there will I be. As if he sayde: I knowe that this place is to litle to receaue or to holde me, whome heauen can not holde. Yea in respect of my Maiestie and person, I need no place: VVhy God did choose a certain place where he would be worshipped. But thou for thy saluation hast neede that such a place there should be, where thou maist serue me, finde me, heare my word, receiue my blessing, &c. This (I say) thy necessitie requireth, lest that, if I should not appoynt such a place vnto thee, the deuill should deceiue thee, & when thou thinkest thy selfe to serue and worship me, thou shouldest serue and worship Satan him self. This daunger moueth me to limit a certeine place wherein may remaine a memoriall of my name.

The Arke was but a corporall thing, The Arke was the habitation of God. like as our temples haue a matter, as tymber and stone, whereof they are builded. But because God by his worde had bound his presence to this corporall place, therefore it was nowe the true habitation of God. So we know that the word is incarnate and become flesh. The bodye of Christ therfore or the flesh of Christ is a true body and true flesh, and his humanitie is a true humanitie. But in this flesh, in this body and in this humanitie God is set forth vnto vs as in a certeine myrrour or a glasse. In this flesh God so appeareth vnto vs, that out of this flesh he neither will be worshipped, nor can be knowne. We therfore doe also worship before that Arke which is now, before our Mercieseate, euen the man Christ: and we beleue that they which serue & honour God out of this Mercieseate, doe sinne and are idolaters, as they which at that time sought God & would worship him any where else then in the temple, did sinne and were Idolaters.

Wherefore the faithfull, euen when they were not at Ierusalem, in prayer turned their faces towardes Ierusalem: Like as now the Church, though it be dispersed throughout the world, accordeth in this notwithstanding, that it prayeth in the name of Iesus, vppon whose passion and merites it wholy resteth, and so by faith in Christ it is but one Church. Wherfore we must diligently marke those sentences of the Scripture which, after this maner binde God to one certeine place: for they arme vs against all maner of Idolatrie, and teach vs to iudge all kindes of doctrine: Like as the Iewes could iudge this doctrine to be true, that all maner of worship which was not done in that place of the Tabernacle, was Idolatrie: So the Patriarkes were able to iudge of the Altars which they made in those places where God appeared vnto them. For there might not be one temple erected against an other, nor one altar against an other: but there was one temple, one Arke, one altar and no more. Like as we haue one Christ in whom God dwelleth and in whom he is found.

Therefore by an excellent name and title he calleth it the Arke The Arke of strength. of strength, that is to say, of the kingdom. Likewise he sayth: Psal. 110. The Lord shal send the scepter or rodde of thy power out of Sion. This power standeth chiefly in preaching the word. Read that which followeth in the same Psalme. Also, Psal. 8. Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hast thou ordeyned strength. So is that called the Arke of strength, where God mightely reigneth, where he helpeth and defendeth his people, where he exerciseth his power for their succour and safety, in hearing them, in forgiuing their sinnes, in comforting them against Satan, death, and hell it selfe. This diuine power (sayth he) is bound to this Arke, and therefore it is truely called the Arke of strength. This strength and this power was also bound to the Altars of the fathers: but now it is bound to the man borne of the virgine Marie. To this man who so euer commeth, shall feele a diuine power. Christ our propitiatorie and mercieseate. If he dye, he shall find life: If his conscience be oppressed wt sinne, he shall finde remission of sinnes: If he be tormented of Satan, he shall find peace: If he be vexed of the world, he shall find securitie and victorie. For Christ, whose kingdom it is, doth not therefore reigne, that he may enrich vs with worldly goods, landes and possessions (for these are promised vnto vs in the first of Genesis): but that he may set forth his diuine power and rich mercie, and set vs free from those calamities, out of the which we are not able to redeme our selues: Like as he deliuered the faithfull in those dayes from all daungers. For the Arke was vnto them as an heauen, where they found deliuerance from all miseries: as the people was the kingdom, and the faithfull were the [illegible: 1 letter]tarres of heauen. Daniel. 8.10. Therefore Daniel sayth of Antiochus, that he should cast downe starres to the ground. For whereso euer the word of God is, there is the kingdom of God, of heauen, of life, of victorie ouer death, sinne and all miseries. Thus ought the word which of the world is contemned and despised, to be exalted and magnified.

Verse. 9. Let thy Priestes be clothed with righteousnes, and lee thy Sainctes reioyce.

This petition is the same which we vse in our preachings, when we desire that the Lorde would giue vnto vs godly & faythfull ministers of the worde, and suffer no euill teachers to haue place among vs. For God in his kingdome is like vnto an Emperour. Wherefore as the noble men and chiefe Magistrates are Ministers vnto the Emperour and are the principall part of his kingdom: so in the kingdom of Christ are the Angells of peace or the ministers of the Gospel. They therefore which pray for the kingdom of God must needes pray that the Lord would giue faithfull Pastours and Ministers, as he him selfe commaundeth saying: The haruest is great: Matth. 9. Pray the Lord of the haruest that he would send forth laborers into his haruest. The labour and trauell of these workmen is, to communicate doctrine, consolation, threatnings, &c. and to minister the Sacramentes. That these thinges may be rightly done, The righteousnes of the person is neuer without corruption. the labourers must needes be clothed with righteousnes, and not onely with that righteousnes which belongeth to euery man, and is not without corruption: but specially with that righteousnes which belongeth to the ministery and to the word, which is pure and without all corruption. This is that righteousnes whereby the kingdome of Christ is gouerned, that is to say, the word and the Sacraments.

Moreouer the Pastors and Ministers of the word are then clothed with righteousnes, The righteousnes of the ministery is vncorrupt. when they execute a righteous office: that is, when they teach the word sincerely, as Peter sayth: If any man speake, 1. Pet. 4. let him speake as the wordes of God. Also, when they minister the Sacraments purely and without corruption: so that whatsoeuer they doe or speake, be either the word or the work of God. So he that baptiseth doth no worke of his owne: but he baptiseth in the power of God. Likewise he that comforteth the afflicted conscience, doth it not of him selfe, but by the direction of the worde and will of God. Wherefore he also that heareth this worde, must not take it as the worde of a man, but as a voy[illegible: 1 letter]s sounding from heauen. So the ministery is righteous which is truely executed in the power of God: and this is true righteousnes.

Contrariwise, they which teach men to trust to their owne merites, works and worthines, and prescribe a certaine forme of apparell, of eating, of fasting and such like (wherein all the righteousnes of the Papistes and the Turkes doth consist): such Priests (I say) are clothed with iniquitie. The Ministers of the Pope are clothed with iniquitie. For they haue lost the chiefe ornament and the true apparell of their ministery, because they doe not teach rightly nor gouerne truely, but seduce men rather with a false shew of their gouernment & ministery, and that by the malice & motion of Satan, which hateth this heauenly ministery and peruerteth the ministers.

The fruites of the ministery. The summe and effect therefore of this prayer is, that they which attend vpon the Arke of strength may gouern righteously: that religion may continue and flourish: that the word may be effectuall and bring forth frute: that terrified and afflicted consciences may be raysed vp and comforted: that secure, profane and presumptuous persons may be beaten downe with threatnings and the terrour of Gods wrath: that the weake may be strengthened: that the simple and ignorant may be instructed: Which thinges by the grace of Christe are diligently and faithfully done in our Church.

God requireth not a heauy, but a cherefull hart. And let thy Sainctes reioyce. Here we see that God is not delited with the heauines, vnquietnes and vexation of conscience, which sinne and the feare which naturally followeth sinne, is wont to bring: but with a chereful hart. Seeing therefore that there be two kingdoms, namely the kingdome of death and the kingdome of life, or the kingdom of hell and of heauen, he desireth here that the faithfull may be kept in the kingdom of life, & enioy the peace and comfort of conscience, which the righteous ministery of the Pastors and Preachers of the word bringeth. With this prayer agreeth that prayer of the Apostles wherewith they begin their Epistles: Grace be with you, Grace. and peace from God the father, &c. Grace is the remission of sinnes. After this grace followeth peace or a good conscience, Peace. which here he calleth a reioycing. Let thy Sainctes reioyce (saith he): that is, let thy people, togither with the Pastors and Ministers, hearing the word of the righteous ministery, be ioyfull & triumph in that word. He calleth them Sainctes or holy because of the vse of the word and the ministery which are holy. Sainctes. So the Iewes are called holy, because (as before I haue said) there were emonges that people which had the arke and the word of God, which were holy thinges in deede, and did sanctifie and make men holy. So our Church is called holy, The Church is holy. not onely for the holines of the persons, but rather for ye holines which the word and Sacraments doe bring vnto those whiche vse them rightly. To those he wisheth ioy and gladnes, and that they may reioyce and be mery in the Lord.

The meaning then of this clause is this, that Christ Iesus our King hath giuen vnto vs his word, hath commaunded vs to be baptised, to vse the Sacrament of his body and blood, not be cause he would destroy vs, The kingdō of Christ is a kingdom of peace and ioy. oppresse vs with sorrow, and driue vs to desperation: but to this ende, that we should reioyce and be merry, hauing peace and a good conscience by his free grace and mercye. The kingdom of Christ therefore is the kingdom of ioy and delyuerance (as an other Psalme saith) in the tabernacles of the righteous: Psal. 117.15. that is, in the Church and among the faithful it is the voice of reioycing: For they knowe that Christ their King would that they should haue comfort, life and victory against death and Satan. This is then the reioycing & triumph of Christians, or (as here he calleth them) of the Saincts. Why then should a Christian be heauy or sorowfull, since that he is called into the kingdome of Christ and of grace, baptised and nourished with the body and blood of Christ, and dayly raysed vp by the word, against desperation and all terrours? If I then doe yet remaine in bitternes and heauines of spirite, the fault is not in this kingdome, nor in the word or Sacraments, but in me and in the deuill, because I doe not with a true faith lay hold vpon the word and thorowly beleeue it. For why should I feare, if I did verely beleue that I am baptised, called, made pertaker of the body and blood of Christ, and so receiued into the kingdom of life, Phil. 3.12. comprehended of grace (as Paul speaketh) and shut vnder the mercie of God? These are nothing else therefore but the subtill sleightes and deceits of Satan, which will not suffer vs to see our inestimable riches and glory, but counterfetteth tentations and crosses where no crosse is, but health and victorye.

Wherefore it was well said of that Christian virgine, who being tempted of Satan, answered that she was a Christian, and so rested wholy in that man Christ. How poore afflicted consciences must be comforted against Satan and all terrours. For we may not reason muche with Satan. If he obiect vnto thee thy sinnes, it shal suffice if thou obiect vnto him againe thy baptisme, which he can not deny: Also if thou lay against him the word, whereby thou wast called into ye kingdom of grace: which, for as much as it is the word of God, how can it deceiue thee? Thus in a Christian heauines can take no place, if in his hart he doe acknowledge baptisme, the word, the communion of the body and blood of Christ, the grace, the fauour, and the mercie of God. How can he then but reioyce and be glad? But because we often times suffer the worde and these giftes of God to be taken from vs, and turne our eyes an other way, it can not be, but that heauines and terror must needes follow. And this commeth to passe by the faulte, partely of our selues (as I haue saide) and partly of Satan, who leadeth vs from the word before we be ware, and maketh vs to thinke of our owne worthynes or vnworthynes, of our good or euill desertes: also of the terror of death, of the torments of hell, &c. When we thinke of these things, if we lay not hold vppon Christ, we perish and are swallowed vp with anguish and sorrowe: for this is to lose the Arke of the couenant. They therefore which in these daungers take holde agayne of the word, are safe, and are now able to say with Dauid: VVhy art thou cast downe, Psal. 42.6. O my soule, and why arte thou vnquiet within me? For I am nowe in the kingdome of Christe, that is, in the kingdome of peace, of ioy and eternall reioycing, sauing that it is hindred by the deuill and by our owne flesh, which is more ready to beholde her owne sinnes and vnworthynes, then baptisme, the word and the sweete promises of God. And this is the wisedome, yea the poyson which is hidde in our flesh, that we are more moued with our owne vncleannes, then with the purenes of the word and the Sacramentes. They then whiche rest in the word, are in a sure hauen of safegarde from all these tempests and terrours. We must pray therefore that God would giue vs good Pastors, faithful, wise and godly disposers of the word of God. For by their meanes and ministery the Churche doeth enioy this inestimable benefite and blessing, whereby it triumpheth ouer death, sinne and the deuill. For it knoweth that it is nowe in the kingdome of grace. This is true and perfect peace, namely the peace of the hart and conscience. Thus the Prophet desireth (as an inestimable gifte) that the pastors and Ministers of the word may be clothed with righteousnes, and then that the people also may reioyce. This is the firste parte of this Psalme. Now followeth the seconde parte.

Verse. 10. For thy seruaunt Dauids sake, refuse not the face of thine annoynted.

This is a newe prayer, which he maketh in the trust and confidence which he hath in the promises. For here (as also before) the name of Dauid doth not properly ssgnifie the substance, but [illegible: 1 letter]he qualitie of Dauid, that is to say, Dauid clothed and adorned with the promises of the kingdom. He maketh mētion here of Dauid because of the promises which were made vnto Dauid. As if he sayd: O lord, I beseech thee, preserue and blesse our kingdom: be thou present with vs: be thou our shield and our defence. And this I doe desire, not for myne owne cause onely, as though there were any worthines in me wherefore thou shouldest graunt me this petition: but I desire it in the trust of thy promises which thou madest vnto my father Dauid, when thou saydest that thou wouldest giue a light vnto the house of Dauid, &c. And here haue we both an example and doctrine set before vs, that we also, when we pray vnto god, should looke specially vnto the promises, as we haue sayde sometymes heretofore.

Moreouer this place admonisheth vs of the difference which is betwene the spirituall & the corporall promises. The promises are of two sortes, legall or conditionall, and spirituall. For the corporal promises haue a condition as touching our workes, ioyned vnto them. So ye corporal kingdom was promised to Dauid with this condition: If his posteritie should continue in the word & the wil of the Lord, as in Moses it doth appeare. But the spirituall promises are grounded vpon no condition of mens workes, but vpon the onely mercy & truth of the Lord. Therefore, although the people of Israell were depriued of the kingdom & driuen out of their land, yet notwithstanding the promise as touching the seede of Abraham, was not taken from them.2. King. 7.15. For thus sayth the text: Although I cast them out & viset them with scourges, yet my mercy I wil not take from thē. Esay. 10.23. Likewise Esay sayth: God shall make the consumption which he hath determined in the whole lande. That is to say, God shall consume and destroy the people for their sinnes, & yet for his own mercies sake he will preserue a remnant, out of the which shal rise a new people & a new church. So the promise in this place made vnto ye house of Dauid, is cōditionall, as ye ende declareth in that the whole kingdom is destroyed, Notwithstanding this is also true which ye Angel saith, he shal sit vpon the throne of Dauid for euer. The errour of the Iewes in that they see not the promises as touching their corporall kingdom to be conditionall. This contradiction can neuer be reconciled vnlesse we make such a difference of the promises of God. And hereof riseth all the errour of the Iewes that they know not this difference. They see great and ample promises concerning their land & their kingdom: but they see not that they are conditionall. And againe: all those things which are promised as concerning the spirituall kingdome, they apply to the corporall kingdom. Hereof it commeth that they glory so much and conceaue so great hope that their kingdom shall be restored. But it is an easie matter to iudge how foolishly they are deceiued. But we will returne vnto the Psalme.

The cause why he maketh mention of Dauid, we haue declared to be the promises made vnto Dauid, for the which he desireth of God that he will not turne away the face of his anoynted, that is to say, of the King, which was anoynted by the word & commaundement of God. The face of the anoynted, what it is. Now, the face of the anoynted he calleth the presence of the King, or the kingdom giuen and ordeyned of God. As if he sayd: Preserue O Lord, thy people: mainteyne the iustice, the iudgementes, the equitie, the whole politike gouernment of this kingdom, that all thinges may be done in due order: so that publike peace be not troubled by sedition and ciuill discord, that discipline be not defaced and deformed by adulteries and other offences. For these things and such like doe perteyne to this kingdom. For to enioy a kingdom, is not to enioy a crowne or a scepter, but a godly ordered common wealth, in the which innocencie may safely dwell, and contrariwise sinne and wickednes may be seuerely punished. All these thinges he prayeth for when he desireth that the face of the anoynted may not be taken away.

Nowe, the cause why he desireth these thinges is, for that this people had the word & the Church of God emonges them, which can not prosper and flourish, where all is full of murther, adultery, warre and contempt of lawes. So Paule likewise exhhorteth vs to pray for Kinges and Princes, that we may leade a peaceable and a quiet life. To this prayer doe we also exhort those ouer whome we haue charge. Why then do the wicked accuse vs as troublers of the publike peace▪ I am verely perswaded that if peace and quietnes be mainteyned by any meanes, it is specially by the praiers of our Churches. For how should the aduersaries pray? what should God giue vnto his enemies & the persecutors of his word? which are in deede vtterly ignorant what true prayer is, or howe they ought to pray.

Verse. 11. The Lord hath sworn in truth vnto Dauid, & he will not shrinke from it, saying: Of the fruite of thy body will I set vpon thy throne.

We are entred (as I haue sayde) into the second parte of the Psalme, Policie serueth the Church, and the Church preserueth policie. in the whiche hee prayeth for the politike or corporall kingdome. For these two kingdoms, namely the politike and the spirituall kingdom, although they be farre vnlike, yet are they so ioyned togither, that the one can not stand without the other. For where politike peace is lacking, there can no pietie or godlynes be maintained without great daungers. Againe, where the worde of God is not, there can be no ende of errours, blasphemies and other impieties. Prayer therefore for politike peace and the common wealth, is necessary. Now, when the word is ioyned withall, the greater cause we haue to giue thankes vnto God. And this prayer (as I haue said) is also grounded vpon ye promise of God. For in prayer we must aske nothing, but that wee are certainly perswaded we may or ought to praye for, or may be obtayned. Now, that we may be certaine how to pray & what to aske, there is not onely a commaundement as touching prayer set forth vnto vs, but also a certaine forme of prayer, and the very words wherby we are taught how to pray and what we should pray for: and moreouer certaine causes expressed, for the which we may be assured that our prayer pleaseth God: As when we pray for the sanctifying of the name of God, the comming of his kingdome, &c. And here is also to be noted, that this promise is confirmed with an othe, that it might be the more sure and certaine.

This promise as touching the temporall kingdome, The wicked presume of the promises of God, and cruelly persecute the true church. as it is great, so was it an occasion to many holy Prophetes, of great affliction and cruel death. For as the promises of God in their right vse doe raise vp and comfort afflicted and godly mindes: so by occasion thereof secure and prophane spirits ware proud & presumptuous, and through the confidence they haue in these promises, they afterwards persecute the godly: as we may see by manifest examples in the Prophets: who, because they reproued the idolatries of the Kings and condemned their false and damnable worshippings, threatning the destruction of the kingdome and of the people, vnlesse they woulde forsake their abominations & turne vnto the Lord, were tormented and put to death as heretikes, for that they seemed to speake against this and other promises. The argument which the wicked vsed against the Prophets And in deede this seemed to be an inuincible argument whiche they vsed against the Prophets: If God (said they) haue promised that the sonnes of Dauid should sit vpon the throne of Dauid for euer, it is impossible that the King should commit any such offence, for the which the kingdome should be destroyed.

How ye Pope hath abused the promises of God. The kingdom of the Pope hath not so goodly and so glorious a pretence, and yet doth he also abuse the promises of Christe in like maner, to establish his tyranny, his idolatries and abominations. How doth he bragge of this promise of Christ when he faith: I will be with you vnto the ende of the worlde? As though this pertained to the establishing of the Popes tyranny. So that sweete consolation: The gates of hell shall not preuaile, &c. afterwards became bloody and cruel, and was an occasion of death and destruction of many Sainctes, for that the Pope did apply it vnto him selfe, and abused it for the stablishing of his tyrannicall kingdome. For this was the only argument whereby they proued that the Pope being the head of the Church, could not erre. Thus the wicked doe abuse the promises (which God hath set forth to raise vp the afflicted minds and consciences of his people) against the true Church. This was ye cause why Amazia the Priest could not abide Amos the Prophet. Amos. 7. In the middes of thy house (sayth he) Amos hath conspired against thee. The earth could not beare his talke. For thus he saith: Ieroboam shall dye by the sworde, and Israell shall be ledde away captiue out of their owne lande. As though this had bene a thing vnpossible, and that the Kinge might commit wickednes and doe what he list without ehecke or punishment. Notwithstanding the ende afterwards declared that this was a vaine confidence, and that the prophet had said truely.

The godly can not so raise vp and comfort thē selues with the promises, as the wicked doe. Thus the wicked do abuse the promises of God, applying the same vnto them selues, whereas they belong to the true Church onely, and so they become presumptuous and careles. They think not of their sinnes or of the iudgement of God: but boldly & without all feare doe persecute the Saintes of God, as we see at this day in the papacie. So the true church is oppressed of tyrannes, oppugned of false brethren, suffereth the contempt and hatred of the world, and in outward apperance is euery hower ready to perish. Here it is necessary that the godly should raise vp them selues with a trust in the mercies and promises of God: for to this ende the promises are set forth. But they which should beleue and comfort them selues with these promises, doe it not: For the infirmitie of the flesh will not suffer them: which Satan also encreaseth in setting before their eyes their great daungers and terrours. Contrarywise the Church of the wicked, which for their sinnes ought to feare and tremble, presumeth, hopeth, liueth in great fecuritie and without all feare. So the Pope holdeth fast that promise with y• which our Sauiour Christ comforteth his Disciples when he sayth: Matth. 28.20 I will be with you alway vnto the ende of the world, perswading him selfe that Peters voate, though it may be in daunger, shall neuer be drowned. But ye true church, to yt which onely these thinges are spoken, doth not so beleue them, nor rayse vp it selfe with a trust and confidence in these promises as it should doe. Thus in all times and ages the condition of the true Church hath bene alwayes one. The godly in perills and affl[illegible: 1 letter]ctions rest vpon hope, when the wicked doe despaire. Now, like as ye wicked liue in great hope, and comfort them selues maruelously so long as they are in prosperitie: so when they are touched with aduersitie, they most miserably despayre. But the godly continue and constantly endure in hope and comfort in all troubles and calamities.

So this promise as touching the kingdom of Christ, was hindred many and sundry wayes by rebellious people, by enemies and wicked Kinges, vntil at the last the citie and the temple were destroyed, the people caried away captiue, and none left but plowmen and such as were of the basest sort. Nowe the word, the worship and seruice of God, the accustomed iudgements, and briefly the Church, the policie, and the kingdom were gone. Here what hope was left, that there should remaine any posteritie vnto Dauid, as this Psalme here promiseth? This promise therefore was necessary, that thereby the godly might be able to comfort them selues, that it was impossible for this kingdome to fall, before Christ the true seede of Dauid shoulde be reueiled. Wherefore, when all thinges seemed to be most desperate, God raised vp certeine notable Prophets. He set vppe Daniel also emonges great and mighty Princes. Moreouer, the time was appoynted by the Prophet Ieremy, Iere. 29. namely 70. yeares, after the which they shoulde returne into their land. The remnant of the royall stocke, that is to say, of Dauid was preserued euen in captiuity. Thus, although the kingdom seemed in outward shewe to be vtterly forsaken, yet was it not forsaken, and the godly constantly continued in hope of deliuerance, when the wicked despayred and miserably perished.

In like maner doe we beleue and comfort our selues at this day that Christ will defend and mainteyne his kingdome and his Church euen to the end of the world, The promises are set forth for the comfort of ye godly, that in their afflictions they should not despayre. though ye Romish Antichrist triumph neuer so much, sitting in the temple of God, and exercising his tyranny as though he would vtterly oppresse ye Church. For these promises God left with his Church, that in such necessitie and daungers it should not be without comfort. Which promises, albeit the Church can not fully and perfectly beleue, yet doth it not deny or reiect the same. And Christ accepteth and commendeth our fayth, although it be no more then a grayne of mustard feede. This to knowe & this to teach, it is necessary. For the time will come (if we be not preuented by the later day) when Satan by his ministers, with might and maine wil attempt all ye meanes he can to quench the doctrine of the Gospell. Here, although we also shall see the kingdom brought into captiuitie, and the Arke caried cleane away, as the Iewes did, yet must we trust that God will giue vs Prophets, and that his Church (although it seeme to be vtterly forsaken) he wil neuer for forsake. For ye word of God, whose promise we haue, ought to moue vs more then the present daunger, seeme it neuer so terrible. For if God, through much patience did preserue his Church vnder the Papacie: if he suffered many abuses, which blind guides and wicked teachers brought into the Church, if at the length, when all thinges were desperate and past all hope, he caused the light of his worde to shine in the middes of most horrible darkenes: why should we despayre? The mercie of God is greater then heauen and earth, & is able to swallow vp all errors, into the which the very elect, by false prophets, blind teachers and the iniquitie of time are often times ledde.

There is no man which would not wish for peace and quietnes in the common wealth, and in the people obedience and godlines. So is it to be wished that in the Church there might be vnitie and concorde, The Church is neuer with out daungers and afflictions, and therefore it hath neede of the promises. and that there might be no offence either in doctrine or life, that Princes and Magistrats would not hate or persecute, but like, loue & embrace the word. Notwithstanding such a common wealth and such a Church may well be paynted out of a cunning artificer, but in this worlde they coulde neuer yet be founde. Wherefore let vs not looke to see the face either of such a quiet common wealth, or of so pure a Church. But herewith let vs content our selues, that the Church and common wealth, although they are not without great troubles and daungers, doe not vtterly perish: that there is some maiestie in the common wealth, and in the Church pure and sounde doctrine: and that there are some which magnifie the word, vse prayer, and frequent the Sacraments, although the greater part doe the contrary. And to this ende doe perteine these consolations, that whiles all things seeme to fall to wracke and ruine, we cast not away all hope and vtterly despayre.

When I behold the miserable face of the Church at this day, The state of the Church at this day, what it is. in that the Pastors and Preachers of the worde are so neglected, yea so contemned and despised, thus I often thinke with my selfe, that the whole ministerie, although there were no tyrannes to oppresse it, must needes fall euen of it self. But we must more regard the promise of God, then all outward shewes, seeme they vnto vs neuer so likely. For behold and consider the histories of all ages, and you shall see that the Church hath bene alwayes oppressed & hidden through the tyranny of Princes, and through the lies and sclaunders of heretiks. Moreouer, ye godly haue neuer bene without their tentations through the consideration of their sinnes and vexations of the deuill. These things he that beholdeth, and stil fixeth his eyes vpon these euills, shal thinke that there is no church nor yet any God at all. But of such shewes and outward appearances we must ground no iudgement. For such a face ye church ye shall neuer see, in the which great offences, infirmities, and, as it were great diseases are not to be found. In deede it were to be wished that these thinges were not in the Church, and that there were such a face and outward shew of the Church, as is described here & in other places, where it is compared to a bewtifull spouse, in whom appeareth neither spot nor wrincle. But such a Church outwardly ye shall neuer see. For it is alwayes oppressed of Tyrannes, vexed of heretiks, exercised with afflictions both inwardly and outwardly, with disobedience, contempt, falshood, dissimulation of false brethren, &c. In all these daungers we must holde fast this consolation, that the gates of hell shall not preuayle against it, and goe on forward with a valiant mind and Christian courage in teaching, in exhorting, in reprouing, and in other duties perteyning to the ministerie. If any be disobedient, peruerse and obstinate, let them goe, let them perish in their owne sinnes, and let this suffice, Luke. 2. that there are some vnto whom Christ and the ministery of the Gospell is appoynted for their rising againe and their saluation.

Thus did the holy Prophets which saw the captiuitie of Babylon to be euen at hand, and that the temple and the citie shoulde be consumed with fire. A consolation for the Church of Israel in the tyme of her captiuitie. This was then the face of the kingdome which should afterwards be destroyed for euer. There was nothing now therefore wherewith they might comfort them selues, but this and such like promises made vnto Dauid, that of yt frute of his body God would set vp the royall throne, & that euen with an oth he had confirmed the same. And this is in deede a singular promise, in that he nameth and pointeth out a certeine person, & suffereth not ye succession to wander in an vncerteine person. Abraham, Isaac and Iacob had also a promise concerning Christ, but vnder an vncerteine person if ye respect the multitude of their posterity. But in this promise is a certeine limitation, because there is one certeine person named, to the end, that although the people should be all leede away captiue, yet so long as the posteritie of Dauid did continue, they should comfort them selues with this hope, that the kingdom should neuer faile.

This I thinke to be the cause why the genealogies, that is, the line of the kinredes and progenies of this people were so diligently obserued and noted of the godly, that through this hope of the promise to be accomplished, the succession of the house of Dauid might be sure & certeine. For this familie was as a certeine starre emonges the people, of whose posteritie so long as they sawe any remnant, they continued in hope of their deliuerance by Christ, yea euen in the captiuitie of Babylon, although it were most horrible. For euen in this captiuitie, although they were without a kingdom, yet had they emonges them certeine persons of the royall stocke, as it were certeine sparkles of the kingdom and of the light of Dauid, vnto whom the eyes of ye godly did alwaies looke, as vnto a pledge of ye promise afterwards to be accomplished as touching Christ. Moreouer in this captiuitie they had the word & the Prophets, Daniel, Ieremy, Ezechiel, and (no doubt) many other. Now, so long as such persons as were appoynted to ye kingdom and the priesthood were yet remaining, the kingdome was not cleane forsaken or destroyed. Thirdly the number of the yeres was also limited, which being expired, their captiuitie shoulde haue an ende. But the Iewes at this day haue none of all these thinges. They haue no kingdome, no persons appoynted to the kingdom, no certeine number of yeares, neither yet the word or the Prophets. Therefore they are condemned with all their religion. And this calamitie in the which the Iewes haue liued euer since Ierusalem was destroyed by the Romanes, is no captiuitie, but a generall destruction and desolation of that people for euer as Daniel also saith: And after this shall be the ende.

Verse. 12. If thy sonnes keepe my couenant and my testimonies that I shall teache them, their sonnes also shall sit vpon thy throne for euer.

This promise is not generall, Because the promise was conditionall, therefore the corporall kingdome had an ende. for it hath a condition annexed vnto it. There is a difference therefore betwene this promise and such as be without condition, as are these: The Lorde said vnto my Lord, &c. Againe Giue thy iudgements vnto the King, O Lord. There the kingdom is promised vnto Christ absolutely, but here it is not promised to the posteritie of Dauid but with this condition: If they shall keepe the couenant of the Lorde. So the kingdom was promised and giuen vnto Salomon, but afterwards his stock was almost cleane cut of in Ahazia, Reg. 2.11. 2. Chro. 22. when onely Ioas remained, & all the rest of the Kinges seede were slaine by Athalia. This was the practise of Satan, to the ende be might hinder the promise concerning Christ. Afterwardes the kingdom came vnto Ioas, who also was of the seede of Dauid, & was preserued by the meanes of his sister, so that he was not slaine of Athalia. Thus was the promise of the kingdome made vnto Dauid to endure for euer, but yet so that God threatneth destruction if they keepe not his couenant. So was the kingdom at the length also taken from the posteritie of Nathan and vsurped by Herode a straunger, vntil the time came that Christ vnder the reigne of wicked gouerners, was born of Mary the Bethlemite. Thus for sinne one posteritie was destroyed after an other by the malice of Satan, and yet the whole line and succession was preserued euen vnto Mary.

To consider these things it is very profitable, namely how the kingdom promised vnto Dauid, came vnto his sonne Salomon, but yet for sinne it was taken from him againe. The same hapned vnto Nathan, & yet notwithstanding God reserued a litle sparke, out of the which this kingdom should afterwards shine & mightely increase. And these things were done to bridle our presumption. Such is the promise also as touching ye church: I wil be with you vnto the ende of the world. But here is a condition ioyned withal, that is: If ye walk in my waies. For whoso neglect ye word, those doth God also neglect and reiect, and reiseth vp others which shal be his Church. So saith our Sauiour Christ: God is able of these stones to raise vp children vnto Abraham. Matth. 3.9. Luke. 3.8. For whereas the promise was made vnto Abraham, the Phariseis, because they were the children of Abraham, thought they shoulde vndoubtedly be heires of the promise. This confidence made them bold to liue carelesly and without all feare of God. Therefore, saith he, it is certaine that the children of Abraham shall be heires of the promises made vnto Abraham: but if ye will be carelesse and wil not obey the commaundement of God, I say vnto you, it is an easie thing for God to reiect you, and of the very stones to reise vp a posteritie vnto Abraham. So this promise dependeth wholy vpon the condition, to bridle and beate downe our presumption.

The couenant is the promise of mercie through Christ. The Testimonies are the will of God reueiled vnto all ages by Moses and the Prophets. Wherefore he requireth faith, and then obedience vnto the law. And here is to be noted that he addeth: VVhich I will teach them. For he will be the teacher and he wil be heard. He will not that the Councells should be heard, The Church is ye Church vnder this condition, if it follow the word. or such as teach that he hath not taught. So we say also of the Church, that where so euer the promise of God is beleued and his word obeyed, there is the Church. But they that doe not beleue, bragge they of their glorious titles, their holy vocations, and such like, neuer so much, are reiected of God & no members of the Church. For who would beleue the Pope because he is the Pope? And yet for this onely cause he will be beleued: & no man may aske whether the thinges which he teacheth be true and sound: but he will haue men simply to beleue that that holy sea can not erre. Against this who so euer dare once open their mouthes or examine his decrees by the word of God, are drawne and haled to all kindes of torments. Like as therefore the Iewes taught and defended their errors and impieties by the authoritie of their Kinges vppon whome this promise seemed to be grounded: euen so in all ages is the false church wont to doe. But we answere that in deede the promise is true, and yet is it conditionall: namely, If ye keepe my couenant and my testimonies. For God did not so anoynt the Kings, that they should doe what so euer seemed good in their sight, or what so euer they ordained or taught, The kings of Israel. God would approue because they were kings and the anoynted of God: but he addeth: If ye keepe my couenant. So in the newe Testament it is a true saying: He that heareth you heareth me: but yet not generally to be vnderstand of all those which teach in the Church. For some teach not the word of Christ, but their owne word. This word God willeth not to be heard, but commaundeth that it be not heard, when he sayth: Take heede of false prophets.

So Moses in Deutronomie commaundeth that the king should neuer lay the booke of the lawe out of his handes, The commaundemēt giuen to the kings in the olde Testament. but should exercise the same continually in reading, in learning and in practising the same. If this commaundement was giuen to the Kings vnder the law, what shall we then thinke of the word of the newe Testament? In vayne shall the Pope and his Prelates here glorie and bragge of the Councells, the fathers, the Church, the dignitie which they haue so many yeares vsurped. All these are so farre to be approued and beleeued, as they teach according to the rule of the holy Scripture. For the Church, which hath authoritie from God, is that onely and alone which followeth the voyce and the word of the Lord.

Moreouer, Few vse their authoritie rightly. we learne by experience, that nothing is more common emongest men, then to abuse the authoritie and power committed vnto them, & very few there be which doe rightly vse their authoritie either in the Church or in the common wealth. The cause is, for that the greater part serue their owne affections, their owne lustes and pleasures, and whiles they shoulde rule others, they suffer them selues to be ruled and gouerned of Satan. Hereof commeth it, that we see the Pope, the Bishops, yea the whole Papacie to haue no care of the word, nor loue to the word at all: but are wholy giuen ouer to seeke theor owne glorie, dignitie, wealth and pleasure. Wherefore their authoritie bindeth not vs, although it were the authoritie of an Angell from heauen: but with good conscience we depart from them, lest we should be disobedient to the high authoritie and Maiestie, which is God him selfe. But if the Pope with his Prelates would not resist and persecute the doctrine of Christ, if with vs they would beleue & teach that we are iustified by the onely price of the blood of Christ, and would not teach men to make marchandise of their owne merites and workes, we would gladly acknowledge their authoritie. But since they manifestly impugne the worde, since they defende their impieties and abominations with extreme crueltie and tyranny, we doe not onely reiect and contemne their authoritie, but we say as Paule sayth, that they are accursed.

It is a common principle emongest the popish Doctors, that the Pope is aboue the worde and the Scripture, and that in the lawe of God he may dispense as pleaseth him. But God giueth no authoritie vnto man aboue the word. So should he set man, that is to say, dust and dunge aboue him selfe: for what is the word, but God him selfe? This word they that honor, obey and keepe, are the true Church in deede, be they neuer so contemptible in the world: but they which doe not, are the church of Satan and accursed of God. All states of men are subiect to the word. And this is the cause why it is expresly set downe in the text: The testimonies which I will teach them. For so will God vse the ministerie of teachers and Pastors in the Church, that he notwithstanding will be the chiefe Pastor, and all other ministers and Pastors what so euer, yea the Church it selfe shall be ruled and gouerned by the word. Emongest the people of Israel the Kings and Priestes glorying and vaunting of their vocation, thought they might doe what they list. So the Pope and his Prelates at this day will not be subiect to the authoritie and rule of the word & the Scripture. For the euill conscience which the Pope hath, doth alway cry out and witnesse vnto him that the holy Scripture is the word of God, and therefore will be against him, & vtterly condemne him. Wherefore there is no prison which he more hateth and abhorreth then the word of God.

The condition is added because of the wicked & presumptuous. This conditionall sentence is here set down because of the wicked, that they should not take vppon them an absolute power contrary to ye word. For there is no absolute promise, but that which perteineth vnto Christ, which saith not with a certeine condition, but generally and absolutely, that Christ should come of the seede of Abraham. Nowe, whereas the corporall kingdom did endure vntill this promise as touching Christ was accomplished, it was so stablished by the word, that notwithstanding it had a certeyne condition annexed vnto it. Therefore many wicked Kinges, with all their families neglecting this condition, were vtterly destroyed, and others succeeded them: so that the temporall kingdom endured after a sort, vntill ye most holy one, the King of Kings came, who hath continued this kingdom vntill this day, and shall doe for euer. This condition therefore is added to beate downe proud and presumptuous spirites. And if he sayd: This promise as touching Christ will I accomplish, and will vndoutedly establish the throne vnto my seruant Dauid: but doe not ye, whiche in the meane time sit in this throne and gouerne this kingdome, presume of the promise, and thinke that ye can not erre, or that God will winke at your errors, and not rather condemne and seuerely punish them. Therefore either gouerne your kingdome according to my word, or else I wil roote you out and destroy you for euer. This promise he now amplifieth and setteth forth more at large.

Verse. 13. For the Lord hath chosen Sion, and loueth to dwell in it, saying:

This is an amplyfication of the promise. As if he saide: Ye haue yt promise. But doe your indeuour, that ye may become righteous and keepe my couenant, shewing your selues obedient vnto my voice. Then shall this kingdome endure and I will dwel with you, and wil replenish you with all maner of blessinges both corporall and spirituall.

Here, of a singular purpose he vseth the same word which Moses vsed Deut. 16.26. In the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. For at the beginning there was no certaine place appointed wherin the tabernacle should remain, but it wandred, not onely from place to place, but also from tribe to tribe, as Ephraim, Manasses, Dan, &c. Moreouer by this word, God chooseth a place for his seruice: therefore we may not chose it. hath chosen, he ouerthroweth all kindes of worship, and religion of mans owne deuising and choosing, whereof there was an infinite number among the Iewes. For thus they thought: If it be lawful for the Priests to cary the tabernacle from one place to an other, why may not we also do sacrifice in moe places then one? This was plaine and grosse idolatrie. For seeing that God did bind him selfe to the Mercieseate by his worde, namely that there he would be, and there he would be found: therefore it was idolatrie to beleue that he was any where else, or to seeke him in any other place. Therefore, when the people did deuise or choose any kind of worship which God had not chosen, we see howe sharpely the Prophets did reproue them. For there is nothing which God so much detesteth, as to admitte or appointe for the seruice of God, that which he hath not commaunded. Wherefore election or choise belongeth not vnto vs: but we must yeelde obedience to the voice of the Lorde. Else shall that happen vnto vs which Ieremy threateneth: That they haue chosen will I reiect. These thinges destroy and confound the inuentions, the deuises and deuotions, the false and counterfet religions which we haue seene in the Papacie. For whereas some gaue them selues to this order of religion & some to that: whereas they had certaine daies of abstinence, certaine meates, certaine Sainctes to call vppon, and such other like, if ye aske who commanded all these thinges, their owne conscience will constraine them to aunswere that they were in deede of their owne choosing and their own deuising. But this is to serue not God, but Satan. For God is not serued but when that is done which he hath commaunded. Wherefore election or choise (as I said) pertaineth not to vs, but to God alone: but obedience belongeth to vs, so that what God hath commaunded, that must we doe.

Moreouer, the word of Choosing beateth downe all confidence and presumption of workes. For if he should say: I giue vnto you Sion for a reward, or this doe I to requite or to recompence you, it were as much as if he said, this doe I in respect of your desert. But when he saith: I haue chosen Sion according to myne owne will, he sheweth that he doth it without all respect of merites: If God doe choose, then commeth it not of our merite. so that he both condemneth all counterfet religion, and all cōfidence of merite. For voluntary worshippings and chosen religions perteine to the deuils diuinitie. And it helpeth vs nothing, that they are chosen of a good intent. For there is no good intent which is grounded vppon our owne iudgement, No good intent but that is groū ded vpon the word. and not vpon the word of God, which ought to be the groundworke of all good intents. For he onely intendeth well, which knoweth that he is constrained to do this thing or that by the word of God. This word who so hath not, although he seeme in all things as holy as an Angel, beware of him, and auoid him as a deadly poyson. This is a most certaine and infallible rule for vs to follow (which if we doe, we shall neuer be deceiued), if we demaund whether God hath required of vs or commaūded this thing or that. For he approueth nothing as good in his sight, which he hath not chosen. And this briefly as touching the word of Choosing, I thought good to note.

Verse. 14. This is my rest for euer: here will I dwell, for I haue a delite therein.

This is a singular promise, and such as God neuer made in any other place. Hereof Esay and the other Prophets seeme to gather, that Ierusalem should endure for euer, that is, vntil the Messias should come, who should make of a temporall, an eternall Ierusalem: As also the Angell sayth vnto Marie: that Christ should sitte vpon the throne of his father Dauid for euer. And here marke the sequele of this promise. Ierusalem at this day is destroyed and gone, and yet this promise doth plainly shew, that this shall be the seate of the Lord for euer. Wherefore it followeth, as an infallible consequence, that he is come which hath established this kingdom for euer. For whereas it was destroyed in the captiuitie of Babylon, yet notwithstanding there were certaine remnants reserued: The time also was appoynted howe long the captiuitie should continue: And moreouer, there were yet both Kinges and Priestes remaining emongst them. But now there is none of all these thinges, as before we haue declared.

This is therefore a notable promise, that this Ierusalem shall be the seate and throne of the Lorde for euer, and shall neuer be abolished. The Iewes presuming of this promise, did crucifie Christ, and committed all iniquitie. For they thoug[illegible: 1 letter]t it not possible that Ierusalem should be destroyed, because of the promise which it had, that it should remaine for euer. But we haue heard that these thinges were promised conditionally: to witte, If they should keepe the couenant of the Lord and his testimonies. Ierusalem therfore continued vnto the comming of Christ. Ierusalem was destroyed: notwithstanding it was builded vp againe by Christ to remaine for euer. Afterward it was plagued for sinne, as other wicked cities and kingdomes were. In like maner the Prophets doe certainly promise that the Gospel should come out of Sion and a newe kingdome of Christe out of Ierusalem. Notwithstanding they say, that this Ierusalem should be greater then the whole earth, and the walles thereof should be the endes of the earth. These thinges can not be vnderstand of the corporall Ierusalem, which notwithstanding was the first occasion of the beginning of the kingdom of Christ: but after wardes it was horribly destroyed: like as also the wicked sorte of Dauids posteritie were rooted out: but the godly remained vntill Christ was borne.

Moreouer, it is euident that this election and choosing began vnder Dauid: For before that time the citie of Ierusalem belonged to the Iebusites: but vnder Dauid it was chosen by the promise of God to be a citie for the Kinges and Priestes, in such sort, that like as before the persons of the Priests did not wander from tribe to tribe, but were alwayes certaine: so the persons and successions of the Kings should not nowe vncertainly wander as the Iudges and the Princes did, which continued not in any certaine tribe, and here againe he vseth the worde of choosing, to confound the presumption & confidence of merite which was so groū ded in their hartes, to the ende they might vnderstand that this citie was appointed by the good pleasure of God to be a seate and harborowe for religion and policie. The Iewes presumed of their owne merites. For this deuilish vice was peculiar vnto the Iewes, that they gloried in their merites, their seruice and ceremonies. For this cause Moses also sharply reproueth them, and warneth them that they should not thinke they had obteyned these great benefites through their owne righteousnes. Not for thy righteousnes (saith he) hath the Lorde brought thee into this land. Deut. 9. The presūption of the Papists. This deuilish presumption we see also to be in the Papacie: but much worse then it was emongest the people of God. For they vsed that worship & seruice which was commaunded of God. But in Popery there is nothing but mans inuentions, which are the worshipping of idolls.

Nowe, whereas the Lord promiseth that he will dwell in Ierusalem, this seemeth to be but a small matter. It is a great benefite of God that he hath appointed a certain place for his seruice. But we must loke to the Maiestie of the inhabitour, and then the place, be it neuer so base and contemptible, shall become glorious. For this did the word promise, that he whom the heauens could not comprehend, should be found in Ierusalem. This is therefore a singular promise, when men may knowe and enioy a certaine place wherein God may be founde, that they wander not in the imaginations of their owne harts, euery man choosing vnto him selfe a God, or a place where he may serue God according to his owne fantasie, as Ieroboam did, which is horrible idolatrie. Wherefore it is the great mercie of God that he hath appoynted a certaine place for his word and his whole seruice, Ierusalem called the holy citie, & why. to the which place the Scripture attributeth this excellent name and title, that it is called the holy citie: not for the holines of the people inhabiting the same, but for the holines of the Lord sanctifying all things by his word.

The glory of ye Church of the new Testament. This glory hath the Church of the newe Testament also, in that she hath for her head, not the Pope, (as the wicked Papists doe most wickedly affirme): but Christ sitting at the right hande of the father, who is present with his word & Sacraments. This is an inestimable glory, which dependeth not vpon our righteousnes, but vpon the great mercie of God accepting, approuing and commending all thinges that we doe for Christ his sonnes sake our head.

But the citie of Ierusalem found Satan her deadly and cruel enemie in this respect also, Satan a continuall and a cruell enemy to Ierusalem. because it was as it were, the workehouse of God, in the which he dayly exercised and wrought all maner of holy workes, blessings & benefites for his people. Yet was it of God notwithstanding meruelously preserued, to this end that his people should not be vncerteine where he would be found, worshipped and heard. And here agayne we are admonished, that all these thinges come of gift and not of merite, of mercie and not of workes. For he hath chosen vnto him selfe this rest, & it hath pleased him to dwell in this place. So it commeth not of our desert that we enioy the Gospell and other great blessings of God. All these are the giftes of God, through his great mercie and goodnes bestowed vpon vs for Christes sake.

Verse. 15. Her vitailes I will blesse, and will satisfie her poore with bread.

This word vitailes signifieth properly a pray. Why ye Scripture calleth our foode and sustenance a pray. But why doth the Scripture so call the sustenance whereby we liue? Euen for the same cause for the which Christ calleth it our dayly breade: So that, like as beastes doe dayly followe their pray and finde it, they sowe not, they labour not, but by pray they atteyne all that they haue: Euen so shoulde we not heape vppe that through couetousnes and incredulitie, which may serue vs for many yeres, but shoulde daily looke for and receiue at the handes of the Lord, that which is dayly offered vnto vs, (employing our labour notwithstanding as a meane to atteine the same) & therewith be content, as the beast is when he hath obteined his pray. For couetousnes & incredulitie is not content with present benefits, although ye Lorde doe neuer so faythfully promise to feede vs, and giue vs all things necessary for this life. Thus the Scripture properly & very aptly calleth our foode and sustenance a pray which commeth vnto vs taking no care, but labouring & leauing ye care vnto God, as our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs, Matt. 6. who commaundeth vs to labour and diligently endeuour to doe that belongeth to our vocation: for of the Hebrewes that is counted labour which euery day hath and bringeth with it. But withall he commaundeth vs to take no thought for worldly thinges, but to leaue all carefulnes vnto the Lorde who promiseth that we shall no more lacke then the birdes and other beastes doe, which haue that is sufficient, and yet labour not nor make prouision for the same. For this is not the ende of our labour, that in this life we should still seeke to enrich our selues and neuer be satisfied. For although we haue the treasures of this world, yet with this life we must forsake them. And like as this life is not certeine, but is as a pray, which we so long enioy as it pleaseth the Lorde: euen so is the portion of our sustenance but, as you would say, a snatch, wherewith we must be content to liue, and not be carefull for the time to come. So doth this word condemne all faithlesse carefulnes and carefull incredulitie, wherewith notwithstanding we can nothing preuaile.

A saying of Cyprian worthy to be remembred. Cyprian hath a goodly saying to this effect and worthie to be remembred. Christians (saith he) which haue forsaken this world, doe so litle care for earthly thinges, that they aske no more but foode and rayment. For their hartes are fixed vppon the eternall treasures of the world to come. They seeke to liue but from day to day, as straungers hauing here no continuing citie, but looking for one to come. And good cause there is why yt Disciple of Christ should desire no more but for the present day, which is commaunded not to be careful for to morrowe. For it is an absurde thing that we should desire to liue long in this world, which pray for the spedy comming of the kingdom of Christ.

Bread what it signifieth. That which followeth: & her poore I will satisfie with bread, is a phrase or kind of speech well knowne. For breade the Hebrewes are wont to call meate and drinke, like as we call vitailes whatsoeuer perteineth to our foode and sustenance. These things he promiseth, but to the poore: for so he calleth his people. For he seeth the condition of his Church to be such, that in the middes of the riches and wealth of the world, it onely hungreth & thirsteth. The pouertie of the Leuites was exceeding great vntill they aspired to honor and dignitie, as also our Prelates doe. For Satan so ruleth in these matters, that he neuer ceaseth to oppresse the ministerie as much as in him lyeth, with pouertie and contempt. This many not contented to beare, doe fall so farre, that rather then they will lack, they will teach the thinges that please men, that so they may attaine to wealth and dignitie.

The godly must therefore hold fast this promise: that the Lord saith he will giue breade vnto his poore. For both these thinges shall come to passe, that they shall haue breade, and yet they shall be poore. And why? Because the kingdom of Christ is not of this world. Let those therefore which are of the ministery, and are the principall part of this kingdom, be content to suffer reproch, hatred and contempt, or else let them be no ministers. For the inheritance of this world is not promised to the godly, but the assured and euerlasting inhertiance of the life to come. Wherefore Christ calleth the poore in spirite, blessed and happy, which notwithstanding must suffer many calamities. On the other side, those that abound in wealth and are full, he calleth miserable and vnhappy, because the time shall come when they shall weepe. Wherefore let vs thus make our account, that if we wil be the people of God, we must in this life content our selues with those thinges whiche are necessary for the back and the belly. All other incommodities let vs patiently beare and ouercome in hope of the glory whiche shall be reuealed vpon the sonnes of God.

Verse. 16. And will cloth her Priestes with saluation, and her Sainctes shall showt for ioy.

This promise is farre more excellent then that whereof we haue now spoken. Temporall incommodities of the Church are recompensed with spirituall benefites & blessinges. For here God promiseth that he will so gouern the Pastors and Ministers, that they shal be pure & holy through the word and haue a good conscience. If we would compare these thinges with that small defecte of corporall thinges, we should beare it much more cherefully and patiently. When I was a Monke, I liued in most miserable darkenes and infinite snares of conscience: where through the multitude of mens traditions, sinne brought forth sinne. I was bound against nature to that impure and incestuous single life. Here, if a man should haue asked me what I would giue to redeeme the quietnes and peace of conscience, and those inestimable graces and glory which we enioy at this day by the word and the spirite of God: I would humbly haue cast downe my self prostrate vpon the ground & giuen my life gladly for this onely quietnes and libertie of conscience in Christ.

But now, when we are clothed in deede with saluation through great and assured promises of the forgiuenes of sinnes and eternal life, we forget these spirituall riches, and we complaine that we are not made Kinges and Princes in this corporall life. We doe not preferre our eternall and spirituall glory before these transitory and corruptible things. And what a foule ingratitude is it, so to be offended with this externall pouertie, and not to ioy and reioyce rather in these inestimable treasures of the spirite? Who woulde not rather hauing these giftes of the spirite, begge his bread from dore to dore, then enioy the riches and treasures of all the Prelates and the whole kingdom of the Pope? Whome we see in this wealth of the world, because they are enemyes to the worde, to be most desperate and damnable: For they are without remission of sinnes, hope of eternall life, the knowledge of Christ, and all the heauenly benefits and blessings, which we by the word doe so plentifully enioy. Wherefore if we be neuer so poore, afflicted, vexed, full of anguish and heauynes, contemptible and abominable in the sight of the world, yet let vs comfort our selues with this, that we haue the treasures of the kingdome of heauen, that by faith in the worde wee shall haue the victorie ouer sinne, death and hell, and that we are wholy clothed with saluation. How many were oppressed with desperation before this happy age wherein we liue? But if they had had this knowledge of grace and these consolations which we now haue by the worde, woulde they not, thinke ye, haue sustained the losse of all the riches in the world and all worldly felicitie? For when a man feeleth the wrath of God and desperation, then infinite riches and treasures are nothing esteemed. What doth knowledge, learning, wisedome, what doe possessions, kingdoms and dominions then auaile? All these thinges who would not gladly forsake and cast away, that onely he might haue his conscience quieted and at peace with God?

Wherefore Paule very aptly calleth the knowledge of grace, an absolute or a full perfection, because all good thinges are conteyned in this knowledge. A singular consolation against pouertie and contempt. For if we liue here by begging our bread, is not this well recompensed in that we are nourished with the food of Angells, eternall life, and Christ him selfe? Who so fauoreth not these thinges, let him seeke for a Cardinalls hatte with the ministers and souldiers of Satan. Let him seeke the wealth, the riches and glorie of this world. As for me, I seeke other riches, which I esteeme aboue all worldly wealth and treasures. Thirtie yeares agoe, if I had had the true knowledge and vnderstanding but of one Psalme, I should haue thought my selfe to be a God: for then all thinges were full of grosse ignorance, horrible abominations and all kindes of idolatrie. But now, when the Lord hath opened vnto vs, as it were a flood of heauenly wisedom and knowledge, we are vnthankfull and become so worldly, so fine and so delicate, that we will lacke nothing that the worlde hath. God & mammon can not dwel togither. But Esay sayth, The bedde is strait, and there is no place for both. Albeit the thinges we doe not condemne: for they are the giftes of God, and therefore let those which haue them, being lawfully gotten and in the feare of God, Esay. 49.20. vse them with thankesgiuing and without offence: and let those, to whom they are not giuen, beare their want and necessitie with christian patience and without grudging: Philip. 4. As Paule sayth, that he is able through Christ to doe or to beare all thinges, to abound and to lacke, to be full and to be hungry, to be praysed and to be dispraysed, &c. and that because we haue a kingdom in heauen, and we looke for a Sauiour, who hath begunne to giue vnto vs these thinges by the word and Sacraments: And if he leaue vnto vs no more but the ministery of the word sincere and sound, we care not much for all other thinges.

This is therefore a singular promise and consolation, that the Church and the word shall endure to the ende of the world, not by the counsell or wisedom of man, but by God him selfe clothing his ministers with saluation. Albeit therefore that vnder Achas and other vngodly Kings all thinges were full of idolatrie, yet were there certeine Prophets by whom the word was preserued. And in the time of Christ the blindnes of that nation was incredible, and such as (I thinke) neuer was before. Notwithstanding there was Anna and Simeon which then acknowledged and preached Christ. This is in deede the great worke of God thus clothing with saluation, that is, with his mightie and victorious word, with his true and holy worshippe, his ministers, that out of the mouthes of men our saluation and our glory may be heard. This is a farre more excellent clothing then were those Aaronicall garmentes of Moises, that the Pastours and Preachers of the Gospell are furnished and adorned with the wordes of saluation and the doctrine of truth, whereby they may be able, not onely to instruct the people committed to their charge, but also to confu[illegible: 1 letter]e and confound the aduersaries. For to this ende serueth the garment and the clothing of saluation, that is to say, of victorie which is obteyned by the pure word and holy ministerie.

The second part of this promise is, that he will giue successe and fruite vnto the word: to witte, that so many as heare these Priestes, these Pastors and Preachers and beleeue the word, are sanctified and their harts are replenished with peace and ioy: they faithfully trust in God, whom they know to be well pleased with them, The peace of conscience is an inestimable gift of God. and of whom they beleue that they are beloued. This peace of the hart is our kingdom of heauen which we haue in this life. For it is an incomparable treasure: in comparison whereof all the kingdoms and riches in the world are but dyrt and dunge. So the Psalme ioyneth these two thinges togither, that by the Preachers and Ministers he wil giue his mightie and victorious word and faith vnto those that heare them, that so all may be saued, and with ioyfull hart may prayse and magnifie such a gracious and a mercifull God.

The spirituall blessing of ye Church must not be estemed according to the outward shewe and face thereof. He that beholdeth the outward shewe and face of the Church, will iudge these thinges to be false and farre otherwise. For these wordes are spirituall, and must not be vnderstand according to the flesh. For if a man follow the outward appearance, he will rather iudge the Pope and the ministers of Satan to be clothed with saluation. For they triumph in great securitie euen when they think and speake those thinges which are most contrary to Christ and the true Church. On the other side the Christians or the true Church are afflicted, vexed, tormented within and without of Satan and cruell persecutors. No man will thinke these thinges to be saluation or ioy, but miseries and perpetuall calamities. But turne thou thyne eyes away from the outwarde shewe and appearance, and beholde that Maiestie which speaketh to thee in the word and promiseth to be mercifull vnto thee. If therefore thou be in the fauour of God, if he hate thee not but loue thee, if he cherish and defend thee, I pray thee, what are all the calamities in the world? Are they not all, be they neuer so terrible and intolerable, swallowed vppe in that bottomles sea of the infinite and vnmeasurable mercies of God?

Verse. 17. There will I make the horne of Dauid to budde: I haue ordeyned a light for myne anoynted.

He continueth in the promise of the kingdom & the priesthood, A promise concerning the defence and preseruation of the Church. that not onely the saluation and ioy of the Priestes and the faithfull people should be defended against fantasticall spirites which that nation was neuer without, but also that this kingdom should be defended against outward enemies and other nations abroad, and at home against seditious persons. For like as amonges the Leuites there were many fantasticall and hereticall spirites: so in the other estates there were also many seditious heades, as the histories doe shewe. Howe many had Saul which woulde not acknowledge him for their King? After that Saul was killed and Dauid was saluted and taken of the trybe of Iuda for their King,2. Sam. 2.10. all the rest of the tribes forsooke him and followed Ishbosheth the sonne of Saul. This dissension endured seuen yeares and six monethes as it is declared 2. Samuel 2. Now who knoweth not what stormes of seditions and battayles Dauid afterwardes suffered in the kingdom? Agayne, after the death of Salomon this kingdome was vexed with infinite seditions by wicked Ieroboam. Agaynst these enormities the Psalme armeth and confirmeth the people, and promiseth that the horne of Dauid shall endure, being exalted and stablished by the Lorde him selfe. Such was the condition of this kingdom, that the pure and holy Priesthoode Satan corrupted by sectes and schismes, to ouerthrowe the sound and true doctrine of the worde: and in the ciuill gouernment he stirred vppe rebellious and disobedient persons. Thus Satan rageth with lying and falshood agaynst the spirituall kingdom, and with murthers against the politike gouernment, that offences of lying and murther might no where be lacking.

Wherefore, as this kingdome must not be esteemed and iudged according to the outward face thereof (for then it shall appeare to be a weake, The outward shew & face of the Church. a seditious and a miserable kingdome): so the Church hath also certeyne promises of peace: but yet so, that for the most parte it is vexed with offences, with persecutions and other afflictions. Wherefore we must rest in the greatnes and the excellencie of the promise, in the Maiestie of the worde, and in the aucthoritie of the promiser, who hath promised saluation, but yet so notwithstanding, that in the common wealth there shall remayne seditious and rebellious persons, and in the Church heretiks and sectaries. Here haue we neede to be of good courage and comfort, assuring our selues, that if we were of the world, the world would loue vs. If we would flatter the Pope and teach the thinges that please him, he would loue vs, he would not persecute vs, he would not throw out the thunderboltes of cursing & excommunication against vs as he doth. They therefore which will be of the true Church, must prepare them selues with a valiant mind to beare and ouercome these offences, resting vppon the promises of God, which doe wholy consist in this, that he is and will be louing and gaatious vnto vs, that he will neuer leaue vs comfortles, and that the enemies of the word, rage they neuer so furiously, shall not preuaile against the Church, because the Lord hath promised that he wil there make the horne of Dauid to budd. Some do vnderstand that by this word [to budd] Christ, in whom the kingdom of Dauid is truely established, is couertly bere shadowed and signified. Against this interpretation I will not greatly stand: and yet I rather rest in the simplicitie of the letter, which seemeth playnely to promise vnto Dauid a certeyne place and posteritie. The name of budding he vseth here, to signifie an encrease: and to encrease is to be preserued. So the Church buddeth and encreaseth (although outwardly it seemeth to be diminished and defaced) because God preserueth and encreaseth it daily by his worde and his spirite. The sense and meaning then is this, that God will blesse, defend and preserue the horne of Dauid, that is to say, the kingdome, the strength and the power of that nation. For here he would specially notifie the person, to this ende that the posteritie might be certeyne of the house, of the person and of the place of this kingdom.

That which followeth: I haue ordeyned a light for mine anoynted, is an hebrewe phrase: which kinde of speech we also doe vse: As when we saye that Iohn Hus was the lyght of the Church of Bohemia. Leonard Kesar, for his singular confession of the fayth, and constancie in the truth of the Gospell, was the lyght of Bauaria. This maner of phrase is vsed also 2. Samuel 21. That the lyght of Israell be not quenched. And in the 2. Chronic. 21. as touching Ioram. For God would not destroy the house of Dauid, because he had promised to giue a light to him and to his children for euer: For Ioram was the laste of the posteritie of Salomon. They that reigned after him, were of the posteritie of Nathan, which at the captiuitie of Babylon, when the Citie was destroyed and the Kinge in captiuitie and bandes, seemed to be vtterly extinguished. But the Lorde chastised both the place and the person: he neither chaunged nor reiected them. Againe, at the birth of Christ the kingdome was translated from the stocke of Dauid to the Machabees and the Romanes. Wherefore as touching the outwarde appearance, this light was vtterly quenched: but to the spirituall man and to the eyes of faith, it was yet glorious. For there were certeine persons remayning of the tribe of Iuda, of whome afterwardes Christ was borne. Wherefore he calleth the preseruation of the kingdom, a light: but in respect of the thing it selfe, and not of the outward shew: for therby it seemed that both the place and the person were clene gone: for God through idolatrie and presumption was constreined to destroy them. So the kingdom was taken from the tribe of Iuda. Then came Christ, who builded a new Ierusalem which shall remaine for euer.

There is also a certaine vehemencie in this word: To prepare a light, what it signifieth. haue prepared: for it signifieth that this kingdome was defended, not onely against all enemyes and conspiratours at home and amonges them selues: but also against all the deuills and the gates of hel, euen to the comming of Christ. Yet notwithstanding the historie sheweth howe it was humbled through many calamities and afflictions. Likewise we haue a promise as touching the Church, that it shall continue vnto the ende of the worlde, and that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it: and yet who knoweth not howe it hath beene humbled, oppressed and in a manner abolished vnder the Pope? There was taught and worshipped, not Christ, but the virgine Mary, the Apostles, &c. So that according to the saying of Christ, except the Lorde had shortened those dayes, Marke. 13.20 no flesh shoulde haue beene saued. Wherefore we must regarde the Maiestie and power of the promiser, more then all the offences that either the world or the deuill can raise vppe against vs: and let vs not be discouraged when the Pope with his curse, and the world with the sworde doe rage against the Church. For although the Church neither in number nor in power be like vnto ye aduersaryes, yet shall it endure and the aduersaries shall perish.1. Iohn. 4. For he is greater that is in vs, then he that is in the world: and the word, because it is the eternall power of God, shall easily ouercome Satan and all the furies of hel.

Verse. 18. His enemies will I cloth with shame, but on him his crowne shall flourish.

Not the King of Babylon, not of Syria, not of Edom, not of Moab, not of Egypte, briefly no enemy shall preuaile against this kingdom: but this kingdome shall stand vnmoueable and mightely established euen vnto Christ, and the enemyes of this kingdome shal be all clothed with confusion. This light shall neuer be quenched vntill he come which shall fulfill all thinges. This throne, although it be neuer so contemptible and odious to the whole worlde, shall remaine in glory, not onely before men, but also before the worlde. Neither could Satan yet euer bring to passe (although with all his force, power and policie he hath continually attempted it) that the posteritie of Dauid should be extinguished before Christ should be borne. To these promises, as vnto a sure staffe, yea as vnto a strong rocke, the Saincts of God haue alwaies leaned in great calamities, wherewith Satan exercised this people to the ende he might hinder the promise concerning Christ. And in deede Antiochus, aboue all other laboured with maine and might, to roote out and to destroy this people for euer. But, as the Psalme here promiseth, because he was an enemie to this holy nation, therefore he was clothed with shame and confusion.

But on him his crowne shall flourish: That is to say, although the crowne of Dauid often tymes shall seeme in outwarde appearance to decay and perishe: yet by a secret and a diuine power it shall be renued, plenteously fructifie, and gloriously flourish. But the trueth of this promise resteth in Christe, of whose kingdome there is no ende. For vppon his head hath flourished a crowne which could neuer decay as the crownes of worldly Princes do. For the crowne of the sonne of God is farre otherwise: to whom all power is giuen both in heauen and in earth. Matth. 11. In the meane time the Lorde preserued this temporall kingdome, vntill that was accomplished in the person of his onely begotten sonne, which he would [illegible: 1 letter]ignifie vnder those shadowes and figures. But because this externall kingdome of Dauid was of this world and earthly, therefore was it but temporall and for a tyme. But the kingdom of Christ, because it is not of this worlde, but heauenly and spirituall, is eternall and shall endure for euer.

This Psalme conteyneth a prayer for the preseruation of the word, and publike peace: For this must we specially desire in our prayer, except we will be found vnthankfull. Moreouer, we must not be offended when we see that the common wealth is disquieted through the disobedience of the people or wickednes of the Magistrates: or the Church vexed through false brethren and heresies. For thus will it be and no otherwise, that where so euer the word, ioyned with publike peace and concord, is found, there Satan that lying and murthering spirite will alwayes goe about to trouble them both. And this is the cause of seditions, of warres, of sectes and heresies. Wherefore we must be well armed, that seeing our aduersary slepeth not, we may valiantly oppose our selues against these offences, and thinke that they are certein warnings, and often times also roddes or punishments which God sendeth to amend vs, and not to destroy vs. Our sinnes haue deserued more greeuous punishments. Better it is therefore to be afflicted of the wicked world, then to be condemned and perish for euer. God be mercifull vnto vs, and turne from vs that we haue so iustly deserued.